Hon. Daniel Pratt 



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Hon. DANIEL PRATT 

A BIOGRAPHY. 



Hon. DANIEL PRATT 



A BIOGRAPHY, 



WITH 

EULOGIES OX HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER. 



KDITED BY 

Mrs. S. F. H. TARRANT. 




RICHMOND, VA. : 

Whittet tVj Shki'person, Publishers and Printers. 
1904. 



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Dedicated to 
Mrs. AUGUSTA D. MORGAN 

and 

Mrs. MERRILL E. PRATT. 



CONTENTS. 

Pac;e. 

Introduction, 9 

Daniel Pratt and Prattvillk 13 

History OK Prattville, 20 

Reminiscences of Daniel Pratt, 60 

A Day with Daniel Pratt at Prattville, 62 

Reminiscences of the Life of Daniel 

Pratt, 69 

Death of Hon. Daniel Pratt, 87 

The Late Daniel Pratt, 93 

Eulogies on the Life and Character of 

Hon. Daniel Pratt 96 

Merrill E. Pratt 174 



INTRODUCTION. 

It has been said, "The more biography the world 
eets on hand, the better informed it will become in 
history." Xot every man is fortunate enough to have 
a Boswell. Indeed, Sam Johnson stands alone, as the 
man best known, of all the vast army of writers who 
have lived and passed away. 

A wise man has said, "Xo public man's work can 
be intelligently judged before half a century has 
passed over his grave." 

Thirty years have been added to the past since a 
million people mourned the death of Daniel Pratt, 
founder of Prattville, Ala., and to-day he can have 
no higher praise than that which his own consistent 
adherence to loyalty for the State of Alabama will 
bestow upon him. On my return to Alal ama from 
a neighlx)ring State, after an absence of more than 
a decade of years (during which time ]\Ir. Pratt had 
died), I asked this question, ''Has any one written 
a biography of :\Ir. Pratt?" For a reply, the follow- 
ing: "Some articles were written soon after his death 
and printed in the daily papers. A near relative of 
Mr. Pratt asked me, with earnestness, to collect these, 
and add any particulars I might see fit. I complied, 



lo IXTRODUCTIOX. 

and In doing so, have two motives. The first, to place 
before the young of the present generation saHent 
points in the life of, to my mind, one of the grandest 
men who has lived in Alabama. This grand old Com- 
monwealth has had statesmen with no peers in the 
forum ; ministers of the gospel in whom was no guile ; 
soldiers as brave as any who ever gazed into the 
cannon's mouth — but only one Daniel Pratt — ever 
ready to serve his God, his country and humanity. 
To get at the inner life of a nation, read the biography 
of individuals, the more personal the better worth pre- 
serving. Would that every boy would study well the 
character of Daniel Pratt, and become inspired to 
follow his example. Remembering ever, the secret 
power of Daniel Pratt was his singleness of purpose 
and the spirituality of his life. 

]\Iy second motive : to preserve tributes paid to the 
memory of ^Ir. Pratt soon after his death. Though 
there may seem some repetition, I wish to preserve 
intact the papers, one by ''Julian," and a series of 
papers written by that worthy, good man, S. Minis, 
I felt that I nuist copy, vcrhatiui, every article he 
wrote, for I cherish with fond affection the memory 
of ]\[r. IMims and his noble wife. They truly be- 
longed to the elect. It was an inspiration to go in 
and out of their home, as was my wont, in my inti- 
macv with their dauohter Katharine. 



INTRODUCTIOX. 1 1 

Recently I stood by the graves of these loved ones, 

and I exclaimed, "\\'ould that every Methodist 

church, every town in Alabama, had such a man as 

S. Minis ; and that the women of our State could 

have known and would emulate the example of a 

woman like ^Irs. ]\Iims. 

S. F. H. T. 




^\y\.^ 



DANIEL PRATT AND 
PRATTVILLE: 

A Famous Town and its Famous Founder. 

IX the little borough of Temple, up among the rocky 
hills of New Hampshire, there was born, in the 
twilight of the last century, a man who in after years 
helped to build a great State, and by honest industry 
erected a monument to himself prouder than any 
column of chiseled stone or cloud-piercing marble. 
That man was Daniel Pratt, a name which every Ala- 
bamian breathes with reverence. 

After spending several years in Georgia, Daniel 
Pratt came to Alabama in 1832, when the State was 
scarcely a dozen years old, and stayed his busy feet 
on what is now Albert Elmore's farm, near Elmore 
Station, in the county of that name. Here he budt 
something of a blacksmith and ginshop, and here 
Daniel Pratt made the first cotton gin ever con- 
structed in the State of Alabama, and from that small 
l)eginning in the backwoods of what was then 
Autauga county, has sprung the most famous gin fac- 
torv in the world. Not fancying his location, the 
pioneer manufacturer went to the falls of the Coosa 
river, at Wetumpka, and sought to purchase that 
great water power. As is usual in such cases, the 
owners of the property ran up the price on ^Nlr. Pratt 



14 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

and drove him away, thus losing the opportunity of 
niaking that town great and famous. After looking 
around for a suitable location, Mr. Pratt decided on 
McNeill's mill-site, on Autauga creek, one mile from 
the Alabama river and two miles and a half below 
the present town of Prattville. This place is now 
locally known as Montgomery's Mill, and here Mr. 
Pratt established his gin factory and remained 
through a five-year lease. When the lease was about 
to expire he sought to renew it, but McNeill made 
the same mistake that the people of Wetumpka had 
made five years before. He thought his opportunity 
for getting rich was at hand, and he charged Mr. 
Pratt accordingly. This drove the manufacturer olT, 
and strolling up the wilderness through which the 
pearly stream dashed and laughed its way to the river, 
that man of iron will and tireless energy came to a 
dense thicket, which he saw could be utilized as the 
seat of a great industry. The water power was fine, 
and Mr. Pratt saw that it could be easily put to driv- 
ing the wheels of manufactru'e. Here he planted his 
stakes and began to build a town in the heart of the 
wilderness. That was in 1838, and in that year the 
Pratt Gin Factory found its permanent location, and 
then Daniel Pratt began to reap the fruits of his labor 
and hi? genius. It was the turning point in a career 
that was nothing short of the marvellous. 

The wonderful story of the wonderful life of Daniel 
Pratt cannot be told in the short space of a newspaper 
letter. It is a part of Alabama's history, and a part 
upon which every Alabamian loves to dwell. And 



A BIOGRAPHY. 15 

the student of that worthy history which, soon or late, 
must be written, will linger long and lovinglv over 
the long chapter devoted to the most illustrious light 
of a great State's material glory. From the Yankee 
lad, with his pack upon his back and his one shilling 
in the pocket of his coarse trousers, leaving his home 
where the blue mountains kiss the bluer skies, to wan- 
der through the brush and bramble of a new land ; 
and rising, step by step, up the toilsome steep that 
self-made men do climb with bleeding- feet, achieving 
fame and fortune — founding the greatest industrv 
of a great State and living out a grand and noble 
life set to grand and noble purposes, and at last com- 
ing to the end of a career that must for a very long- 
time serve as a glorious incentive to youth, and dving 
with a million people as his mourners — there is a 
pen-pathway in which no man will dare to walk 
hastily and hope to leave footsteps that will last 
through a moment of historv. 

Prattville, the great manufacturing centre founded 
by Daniel Pratt forty-six years ago, is a remarkable 
town in many respects. It is nine miles from the 
nearest railroad station, and fourteen miles from 
Montgomery, through which nearly all of its business 
is carried on. The thousands of cotton gins, millions 
of yards of cotton cloths and immense quantities of 
sash, doors and l)linds are hauled by mule teams to 
^Montgomery, and from that point shipped all over the 
country. And. in spite of the apparent drawback of 
being away from the railroads, Prattville has grown 
and flourished, and still o-rows and flourishes. There 



i6 Hox. DANIEL PRATT. 

is not another town of ten or twelve hundred people 
in America wdiich can make as good an industrial 
showing as Prattville, Ala. 

The pride of Daniel Pratt's heart was his world- 
famous gin factory. There is not a cotton planter in 
the South who is not acquainted with the superior 
merits of the Pratt gin, it being acknowledged as the 
best cotton gin manufactured. Over twenty-seven 
thousand of these gins have been manufactured and 
sold. In one year the factory turned out fifteen hun- 
dred gins, or about five gins for each working day. 
The average output of the factory has been about 
five hundred gins a year for forty-six years, a record 
altogether unexampled in the history of gin manu- 
factoring. Added to this are the thousands of gin- 
feeders and condensers manufactured of late years, 
and which have become as popular as the gin itself. 
One hundred men are employed in the gin factory, 
and the pay-roll is upwards of a thousand dollars a 
week — 355,000 a year. The steel from which the 
saws are made is imported from England in sheets 
about four feet long and ten inches wide. The iron 
for the ribs is from the Shelby Iron Works, this State, 
and all other iron comes from the Mary Pratt Fur- 
nace, at Birmingham. Alabama woods are most used ; 
so that it will be seen that nearly all the material used 
in manufacturing the Pratt gin is obtained in Ala- 
bama. The State of Texas and what is known as 
the ^lemphis cotton district buy more of the gins 
than any other sections of the cotton belt. 

The ruling spirit of the Daniel Pratt Gin Company 



'^T^sm^ 




A BIOGRAPHY. 17 

is Mr. Merrill E. Pratt, nephew of the founder of 
Prattville. Mr. Pratt was born in the same New 
Hampshire village in which Daniel Pratt first saw 
light, his natal day being February 23, 1828. He is, 
therefore, fifty-six years old, and is himself one of 
the most noted of living Alabamians. Mr. Pratt came 
to Alabama in 1841. His stalwart figure and his 
great benevolent face are familiar to tens of thousands 
of people in this and other States, and everywhere 
he receives the proud title of Honest Man. Merrill 
Pratt is a true man in all the walks and affairs of 
life, and is an eminently worthy successor to the 
grand old man who reared him and whose name he 
bears. The people of Alabama have manifested their 
regard for him in more ways than one, and they will 
never cease to appreciate so true and so progressive a 
citizen. Mr. W. T. Northington, Mr. Pratt's brother- 
in-law and right-hand man, is a gentleman of con- 
spicuous merits and the finest business qualifications, 
and to him is due no small degree of the success that 
marks the present administration of Daniel Pratt's 
great industry. Among the numerous competent and 
worthy gentlemen who aid in the manufacture of gins 
may be mentioned Mr. E. H. Fletcher, general fore- 
man; Mr. M. D. Fisher, foreman of the foundry; 
Capt. W. L. Ellis, superintendent of the frame and 
brush department ; Mr. F. E. Smith, one of the oldest 
and most accomplished mechanics South, who has 
charge of what is termed the ''breasting job"; Mr. 
J. C. Burns, general inspector, and Mr. W. G. Beck- 
with, master mechanic. Referring to the men in the 



i8 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

gin factory, Mr. Mac A. Smith said : "They are the 
most intelhgent set of mechanics I ever knew or heard 
of. You ought to see their mail matter. It is im- 
mense. They read and think, and they are gentlemen 
who are very capable of deciding all questions for 
themselves. And, above all, they are prosperous and 
happy." 

Another great industry founded by Daniel Pratt is 
the cotton factory of the Prattville Manufacturing 
Company, No. i. This factory was established in 
1846, and it has made a dozen fortunes. Its products 
are osnaburgs, sheeting, shirting and rope, and it em- 
ploys one hundred and seventy-five hands, paying 
them monthly $2,500, $30,000 a year. About twenty- 
five hundred bales of cotton are annually consumed, 
fifteen hundred of which are brought in by farmers 
from the surrounding country. The establishment is 
now controlled and chiefly owned by ex-Mayor Henry 
E. Faber, of Montgomery, and his brother, Mr. Jacob 
Faber, of Prattville. Mr. R. W. Willey is the super- 
intendent. Owing to the general depression in the 
cotton goods trade, the mill now runs only four days 
in the week. The goods manufactured by this mill 
are famous for their excellence, and are shipped to 
every Southern State. The principal warehouse for 
the sale of the goods is in Montgomery, and is in 
charge of Henry E. Faber. 

The great sash and blind factory now owned and 
controlled by G. L. & D. P. Smith was established 
in 1850, being the third enterprise to spring up under 
the magic touch of Daniel Pratt. This is the largest 



A BIOGRAPHY. ' 19 

and most widely patronized sash, door and blind fac- 
tory in the State, employing twenty-five men, whose 
pay amounts to about $1,000 a month. The factory 
sells house-finishings and moulding by the hundred 
thousand feet. It is owned by Mr. George L. Smith, 
of Prattville, and Mr. D. P. Smith, of Philadelphia, 
who, by the way, is night editor of the Inquirer, a 
leading newspaper of the Quaker City. Mr. D. E. 
Holt is the accomplished superintendent. Thus, it 
will be seen that there are three hundred hands em- 
ployed in the factories of Prattville, whose annual 
pay reaches nearly $85,000. Hundreds of thousands 
of dollars in goods are turned out every year; and 
for a town of twelve hundred people this is a re- 
markable showing. 

Prattville is one of the most beautiful and charm- 
ing towns in the country. Its people are noted for 
their intelligence and hospitality, and surely no love- 
lier village ever nestled beside any crystal stream that 
ever stole away to any sea. 



HISTORY OF PRATTVILLE. 

By S. MIMS. 
[Written in 1877 and 187S.] 

"pvANIEL PRATT was born in Temple, New 
^^ Hampshire, July 20, 1799. Here he lived until 
the age of sixteen, when he commenced serving an 
apprenticeship to the trade of a carpenter. At the 
expiration of his term of service he came South, 
arriving in Savannah, Ga., with a small sum of money 
and a box of tools. He remained in Savannah two 
years. In 1821 he went to Milledgeville, where he 
worked at his trade until 183 1 ; then he moved to 
Clinton, Ga., and took charge of the Cotton Gin 
Manufactory belonging to Mr. Samuel Griswold. 

In one year Mr. Pratt was made a partnerf The 
gins they manufactured, at this point, were rough 
and unpolished, as is often the case with inventions 
before skill and experience give the final touch. 

About this time Mr. Pratt married a young lady 
from New England, who was spending the winter 
with a relative in Georgia ; and a wise selection of a 
companion he made when Miss Esther Ticknor be- 
came his wife. She proved herself a helpmeet in 
every sense of the word, all through life. Thi ee chil- 
dren were born to them : Mary, Ellen and Maria, 
the dates of whose births were, respectively, Decem- 



A BIOGRAPHY. 21 

ber 5, 1842, March 2,^, 1844, and August 22, 1847. 
Of these, Mary and Maria died in infancy. Ellen 
was married February 4, 1863, to Henry DeBar- 
deleben, and at the time of her death, February 12, 
1893, was survived by eight children. 

The firm of Griswold & Pratt decided to start a 
branch of their business in Alabama. After con- 
sidering the dangers by the way, travelling through 
the country in wagons, liable to an attack by the red 
man, Mr. Griswold abandoned the enterprise. The 
indomitable will of Mr. Pratt, that spirit of enter- 
prise which characterized him through life, was not 
to be daunted nor discouraged. He purchased mate- 
rial for fifty gins, put same on wagons, and, in 1833, 
he, with his brave wife and two African negroes, 
started for Alabama. 

After a long, tedious journey, he arrived at El- 
more's Mill, about sixty miles from Wetumpka. Here 
Mr. Pratt put together the material he brought with 
him, painted the gins and placed them on the market. 
He found no difficulty in selling the same. After 
remaining at the place mentioned above about a year, 
he leased from Col. John McNeil the water privilege 
where Montgomery's Mill now stands (three miles 
below the present site of Prattville). This lease was 
for five years. Here Mr. Pratt bent every energy 
to carry out his plans. He erected a gin shop. He 
lived in a log cabin, with a dirt chimney bending over 
and propped by poles. Then he built a two-story 
frame gin shop. His family lived in the upper story 
and boarded his operatives. The gin saws at this 



22 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

time were cut, and the holes punched by hand, yet, 
by bard work, he was enabled to make at this place 
about two hundred gins a year. 

In 1838, one year before his lease expired, he 
bought the lands where Prattville is now situated, 
and began to lay the foundations for a town which 
would bear his name — a town now noted far and 
wide for manufactories — a town that shall serve as 
a more enduring monument than any marble slab or 
chiseled stone. 

I have often exclaimed, "What an undertaking! 
to build a town in a dismal swamp." For such was 
the nature of these lands. The only feature to recom- 
mend the location was Autauga creek, with its water 
power. 

This land Mr. Pratt bought from Joseph May, the 
neighbors all believing he had made a bad invest- 
ment. 

At this time there was a small grist-mill, a saw- 
mill and a small dwelling-house. Mr. Pratt used the 
saw-mill to get out lumber, to build a new mill which 
he located on the site where the grist-mill stands; 
also, put up a building for a shingle machine. 

Mr. Pratt moved to this place in 1838. , 



CoTTON-GiN Trial. 



We see in the last number of the London Cotton 
Plant an account of the trial of cotton gins in the 
city of Manchester, at which one of the gins of the 



A BIOGRAPHY. 23 

manufacture of our esteemed and enterprising citizen, 
Daniel Pratt, was exhibited. The Cotton Plant 
says : 

"The machine which first attracted attention was 
an American sixty-saw gin, on Whitney's plan, but 
combining the most modern improvements, and 
manufactured by Daniel Pratt, Prattville, Ala. It 
was sent to this country, and to the Association, by 
Consul Dyer, at the express request of Lord Claren- 
don when Foreign Secretary. This gin was much 
admired.'' 



Alabama may be proud of such an energetic, public- 
spirited citizen as Daniel Pratt. 

Wherever the cotton gin is used, Prattville and its 
founder are as familiar as household words. Every 
one, however, who has heard of Prattville and its 
products does not know the real designs of its founder 
in building up a manufacturing village. It is very 
natural to suppose that the love of money was at the 
bottom, as is the case in most enterprises of the kind. 
It appears, however, from a conversation which the 
author had with Mr. Pratt in 1845, ^^^^ his object 
was to build up a village for the purpose of dignify- 
ing labor in the South, and to give the laboring class 
an opportunity of not only making an independent 
living, but to train up workmen who could give dig- 
nity to labor, and thereby add to the respectability and 
wealth of his adopted State. The conversation, as 
nearly as the writer recollects at this distant date, was 
as follows : 



24 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

Mr. Pratt said that during the six years, com- 
mencing at Ehiiore's Mills in 1833, and five years at 
McNeil's Mills, he had prospered in business beyond 
his most sanguine expectations ; indeed, he had made 
enough to settle himself comfortably for life, and he 
proposed to Mrs. Pratt that, if she preferred, they 
would return North and settle themselves among 
their relations, for they both had parents, brothers 
and sisters there-; otherwise, he would direct his 
future life to the purpose of building up a manufac- 
turing village. Mrs. Pratt very wisely decided to 
remain in the South and share with him his fortunes. 
In this enterprise it seems that woman played an im- 
portant part, as she really does in most matters, either 
for weal or woe. Some men are so manish that they 
think it a weak point to consult their wives, when 
perhaps their greatest weakness lies in their not con- 
sulting them. The question of their remaining W6\ith 
being settled, the next thing was a location. The 
present locality was determined on and purchased of 
Joseph May — one thousand acres at twenty thousand 
dollars — a portion payable in cotton gins at factory 
prices. This location was selected, not so much for 
its beauty as for the pine timber, which was necessary 
for his gin business and building purposes. Perhaps 
a more unsightly place could not have been selected 
anywhere on the creek, as it was literally a quagmire, 
with a few dry spots in places, which required a large 
outlay of money to ditch and drain, which he did at 
his own expense as he could find time and means to 
do so. Even where his dwelling and garden are lo- 



A BIOGRAPHY. 25 

cated required a great deal of digging down and 
filling up before he fixed it to his notion ; but he never 
stopped at expense when his taste required a change 
to suit it. 

Just here I will relate a little incident, which, 
though a little laughable, was characteristic of the 
man. When he was fitting up his warehouse at 
Washington Ferry, there was considerable digging 
down and filling up in-order to give a level yard. 
Whilst his negro men were employed at this, a gen- 
tleman riding by asked one of his negro men what 
he was doing. The boy replied that he did not know. 
He said that ''his massa, Daniel Pratt, seemed dis- 
satisfied with the way God had made the earth, and 
that he was always digging down the hills and filling 
up the hollows ; that was all he knowed about it." 

In the selection of a site for his dwelling he dis- 
played quite a taste for the picturesque. For a back- 
ground view, he chose a lofty hill, which he terraced 
and planted as a vineyard; for front and side view, 
a beautiful sheet of water. Upon the whole, he ex- 
hibited a taste for poetry as well as prose. 

In 1839 Prattville was commenced, and Mr. Pratt's 
usual success followed him in a more extended way, 
as he had increased his facilities for turning out a 
greater number of gins. In order to meet the de- 
mands for his gins in the West, he found it to his 
interest to keep a constant supply on hand in New 
Orleans, where he built a large and commodious 
brick building, and commenced a commission business 
with H. Kendal Carter, whom he knew in Macon, 



26 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

Ga. In this business he also prospered, besides its 
offering facihties for the sale of his gins. In 1846, 
the year the writer moved to Prattville, Mr. Pratt 
had started up a small cotton mill of five hundred 
spindles, for the purpose of making thread only. 
Many of his friends insisted on his extending his 
mill and taking stock ; consequently, the stock was 
subscribed to the amount of $110,000. An additional 
building was put up for loorfis, one hundred in num- 
ber. The whole machinery was purchased at once 
and pand for, but a large portion lay idle for three or 
four years for want of capacity in the superintendent 
to manage the establishment. Another man was put 
in his place, but being too slow, he was displaced, and 
Gardner Hale put in charge. From that on things 
began to tell ; old debts were paid off. There were 
many difficulties in the way in the first starting up 
of cotton mills in the South. Hands had to be trained. 
These were brought up from the piney woods, many 
of them with no sort of training to any kind of labor ; 
in fact, they had to learn everything, and in learning 
many mistakes and blunders were made fatal to suc- 
cess. 

The darkest hours that cotton manufacture has seen 
in Prattville has been since the war ; but recently, I 
am glad to learn, the mill is making heavily, and mat- 
ters are moving on prosperously. Since the war the 
entire mill has been filled with new machinery of the 
latest and most improved patterns. A good deal of 
expense has been gone to in wheels and fixtures, and, 
besides all this heavy expense, two large "law suits 



A BIOGRAPHY. 



27 



have been decided against tlie company, the cause 
of which arose during the war. 

Mr. Pratt's great success in his business attracted 
the attention of many gentlemen of wealth and dis- 
cernment, who visited the place, not only from this 
State, but from the adjoining States. Among the 
distinguished gentlemen, Dr. B. Manley, then Presi- 
dent of our State University, paid Mr. Pratt a visit 
in 1846, to whom Mr. Pratt revealed his purposes in 
establishing a manufacturing village, the same as 
heretofore mentioned. In January, 1847, a corre- 
spondence took place between these two gentlemen. 
These letters not only reflect credit on the authors, 
but to the trustees of our State University. As far 
back as 1847, a commendable spirit was shown by 
them towards elevating labor to its true dignity, by 
conferring honor on one to whom honor was justly 
due — who was laboring to promote the true interests 
of his adopted State, by diversifying labor, by mak- 
ing it, not only honorable but profitable for our sons 
and daughters to engage in, but to enrich his State 
and make it respectable amongst States. Of these 
letters, the following relates to the honorary degree 
conferred by the University of Alabama: 

''University of Alabama, Jan. 4, 1847. 
''To Daniel Pratt, Esq. 

''Dear Sir: The trustees of the University of 
Alabama, appointed by the Legislature of the State, 
in the exercise of the discretionary powers entrusted 
to them, have authorized and instructed me, as their 



28 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

official organ, to confer upon you the honorary degree 
of Master in the Mechanic and Useful Arts ; and 
at the late public anniversary of this institution, held 
on the 21 st of December, 1846, the said degree was 
conferred. 

''This is a token of the respect and honor felt by 
the trustees, in common with reflecting men in every 
station, for that high degree of intelligence, benevo- 
lence, uprightness and success which you have exer- 
cised and displayed in the relations of life allowed 
to you by divine Providence. Without having de- 
voted your life to literary pursuits, you have attained, 
in an eminent degree, that which is the end of all 
letters and all study — the art of making men around 
you wiser, better and happier. You have shown, in 
a substantial manner, that you value and know how 
to promote the industrial and economical virtues 
among men, rendering your own intelligence and 
lionestly acquired wealth a blessing to all that come 
within the sphere of your influence. You have shown 
yourself the friend and supporter of schools for the 
son of the laboring man, as well as of the rich, that 
all the rising generation may be fitted for that con- 
dition of republican freedom which it is the peculiar 
privilege of American citizens to enjoy ; " above all, 
you have shown that you discern what is the great 
source of all virtue and happiness, of all knowledge 
and success, by your efficient maintenance of the insti- 
tutions of the religion of our Lord Jesus Christ 
among your people. 

''May your life and health be long preserved ; may 



A BIOGRAPHY. 29 

3^011 enjoy the special influences of God's Holy Spirit, 
and, while filling the hand of honest industry with 
the wages of labor, and erecting over the shelterless 
a neat and comfortable home, may you too receive a 
return for your labors such as this world cannot give, 
and find for yourself a mansion in that 'building of 
God, that house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens.' 

"In attestation of the honor which has been con- 
ferred upon you, I have caused a diploma to be made 
out, duly signed and sealed, of w^hich. I beg your 
acceptance, and which will be sent to your address 
or delivered to your order, as you may be pleased to 
•designate. 

''With great respect, I am, sir, 
"Your obedient servant, 

"B. Man LEY, 
"President University of Alabama." 

On receipt of this letter, Mr. Pratt was taken en- 
tirely by surprise, for he had never conceived the idea 
of such an honor ; his own letter, in reply, will more 
fully express his feelings, and we therefore introduce 
a copy of it : 

"Prattville, Autauga Co., Ala., 

''January 21, 1847. 
''Dr. Manley. 

"Revered and Dear Sir: Your highly esteemed 
favor of the 4th instant, notifying me of the honor 
conferred on me by the trustees of the Universitv, 



30 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

through you, was duly received. I must confess that 
I am at a loss to know how to answer it. It w^as 
received with a degree of surprise and astonishment. 
I feel unworthy of the honor, and unworthy to re- 
ceive such a letter as you have been pleased to write 
to me. You speak in the very highest terms of the 
course I have pursued in my business transactions^ 
and credit me with many good acts, for which I feel 
I deserve no credit. If I have done anything to 
benefit others, or to benefit society, it is through the 
bountiful goodness of the author of all blessings. 
Had not the means and disposition been derived from 
a purer source than poor erring and degenerate man, 
I should never have deserved any applause for any 
good deed. My desire is that this high degree of 
honor which you have been pleased to confer on me 
may be the means of aw^akening me to a higher sense 
of duty, that I may be more 'diligent in business, fer- 
vent in spirit, serving the Lord.' I will accept the 
diploma, but do assure you that your very highly 
esteemed letter will be kept quite as sacred as the 
diploma. Allow me to subscribe myself, 

''Your obedient servant, 

''Daniel Pratt."'' 

The only true test of character is the works and 
utterances of men who have finished the work as- 
signed them on earth. If these works and utterances 
art in keeping with the truths of God's revealed will 
to man, then we are at liberty to pronounce favorably 
upon them. Judging from the language used, and 



A BIOGRAPHY. 31 

the true Christian spirit which breathed in the above 
letters, it is very evident that both men were deeply 
impressed with a due sense of the practical bearings 
of the truths of the Christian religion on the hearts 
of men ; kindred spirits met and were in sympathy 
with each other ; though engaged in widely differing 
pursuits in life, yet their end and aim was the same — 
to make men "wiser, happier and better/' which is the 
end of all letters and study — truly a noble and de- 
vout thought, which could only proceed from God. 
It will be recollected by the reader that Dr. Manley 
was a Christian minister, of high literary character, 
learned in the deep things of the Bible as well as 
human science ; his great work was to call men to 
repentance and to apply the soothing words of the 
gospel of peace to heal the broken spirits of the 
children of men. In yielding to the call of the trus- 
tees of the University of Alabama to preside over its 
interests, he did not lay aside his ministerial calling, 
but placed himself in a position where he could wield 
an influence over the minds and hearts of young 
men which would bear the fruits of righteousness in 
after generations. 

The letter addressed to Mr. Pratt was in his official 
capacity, notifying him of the hondr conferred on 
him by the trustees. The occasion did not necessarily 
call for a reference to the great and important truths 
of the Christian religion. The reference to these in a 
purely business point of view was rather out of the 
usual routine of things, yet as a true minister he 
choose to sow his seed out of season as well as in 



32 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

season, that the seed sown might spring up and bare 
fruit is shown by Mr. Pratt's letter, saying in his 
letter of acceptance that he should cherish his truly 
Christian letter quite as sacredly as he did the honor 
conferred. Of the truth of Mr. Pratt's sincerity in 
this acknowledgment, the writer had the fullest proof. 
He happened to be in Mr. Pratt's office a short time 
after he received the notice from Dr. Manley, and as 
he handed me the letter the tear-drop stood in his eye. 
That he ever afterwards conformed strictly to the 
suggestion of the letter, of making men wiser, happier 
and better, thirty years' intimate acquaintance fully 
justified. I now reluctantly take leave of a character 
so lovely, regretting my misfortune of having known 
so little of him personally. 

Mr. Pratt's letter exhibits great simplicity and sin- 
cerity of heart, both traits for which he was distin- 
guished in all his intercourse with men. He bore 
the honor meekly, so much so that his friends spared 
his modesty by not affixing it to his name. 

I now resume the history of Prattville. In 1845, 
Mr. Pratt fitted up an upper room over B. F. Miles' 
store for the purpose of a church and Sabbath-school. 
The Rev. Jesse P. Perham, of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, was the stationed preacher; he 
also was machinist, and worked at his trade. He was 
a true orator by nature. Though laboring under an 
impediment of speech when he first opened his dis- 
course, but, after getting under way, it seemed to 
be an advantage to him in the prosecution of his sub- 



A BIOGRAPHY. 33 

ject — like one equipped for running a race after 
removing his weight from his feet. As a revivalist 
he had no superior. \>ry soon a large church was 
formed of young people, mostly engaged in the manu- 
facturing departments. Quite a flourishing Sunday- 
school was under way, well attended and well be- 
haved. At that time the Baptist Church existed, even 
before the room was fitted up for Methodist preach- 
ing. The Presbyterian Church had no existence then, 
but, I think in 1850, one was built on the same side 
of the creek (west side) that the other churches were. 
Notwithstanding all these helps, Satan stood his 
ground, and never lacked of either men or means to 
carry on his work. The leading men and women of 
the place belonged to some or other of the churches, 
and the influence was decidedly religious and orderly. 
In the meantime the gin shop on the west side of the 
creek was built, and the old location occupied by the 
present brick building, constituting the cotton mill. 
This is without doubt one of the most substantial 
buildings of the kind in the South. This building 
was put up by David McCord, under the superin- 
tendance of Gardner Hale, which is a lasting monu- 
ment to their skill and taste in building. The cost 
of the house, with wheels and shafting, exceeded 
$45,000, and was paid for out of the earnings of the 
cotton mill, without a call on the stockholders. The 
woollen mill had been previously fitted up at the ex- 
pense of the cotton mill, costing over $11,000. This 
mill came in very opportunely to assist the cotton 
mill at a time when it needed assistance. The profits 



34 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

on this mill for a number of years was enormous for 
the amount of capital invested, and during the war 
the profits were fabulous, but it all went up with the 
Lost Cause, besides upwards of $150,000 of outstand- 
ing claims when the war commenced. The loss of 
the gin shop exceeded half a million dollars in out- 
standing claims. I take no risk in saying that the 
four years' war, and the dull times since, have injured 
the manufacturing interest of Prattville over two mil- 
lion dollars. Notwithstanding all this, both com- 
panies have maintained characters for punctuality 
scarcely ever before done under similar circum- 
stances. The sash, door and blind factorv, under the 
superintendence of G. L. Smith, has had hard work 
to keep up, as this business has, in common with all 
others, suffered from the effects of the war and the 
dullness of the times following ; yet with the untiring 
and indefatigable labors of its proprietor, Mr. G. L. 
Smith, I learn that its business is at this time pros- 
perous. 

Before I close the history of Prattville, it is my 
purpose to mention one building which, of all others 
on the west side of the creek, attracts attention on 
account of its size, the completeness of its finish, and 
its adaptability for the purposes for which it was 
originally designed. I mean the Methodist Church 
building. The cost of this magnificent structure ex- 
ceeded twenty thousand dollars, which Mr. Pratt 
deeded to the use of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. The apartments on the lower floor were fitted 
up for stores and offices, the rentals of which were 



A BIOGRAPHY. 35 

to be appropriated to expenses of the pastorate and 
keeping up the necessary repairs of the building; 
this the writer knows to have been one of the fondly 
cherished plans of Mr. Pratt, one which he conceived 
before work was begun. His plan succeeded to his 
liking before the war of the States. During the war 
there was a failure, as the house doing business made 
a failure. After the war, however, Air. Pratt started 
another store, which succeeded during his lifetime; 
but from causes which I need not here relate, busi- 
ness was given up, and at present there are scarcely 
any occupants of the building. It is to be hoped, how- 
€ver, that the accomplishment of this long-cherished 
scheme of Air. Pratt may succeed, as it is altogether 
practicable, and justly due to one who deeply felt 
for the church of his choice to the last. Mr. Pratt 
was not visionary in any of his plans ; he had more 
than twenty years to reflect upon this one act of his 
life, which he intended for the glory of God and the 
good of the church. Had he lived, his original pur- 
pose would, no doubt, have been carried out to the 
letter. It is true, so far as the support of the church 
is concerned, his friends have nobly come up to the 
work of bearing the expenses of the church ; vet this 
may not always be the case. *The tenure of life is 
uncertain, and while there is a present opportunity 
of carrying out Mr. Pratt's original designs of mak- 
ing the building support the church, it should be 
done; it is due to his memory. In connection with, 
this subject, the writer would call the attention of 
the present officials of the church to a set of resolu- 



36 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

tions conspicuously placed in the Sabbath-schooT 
room. It will be borne in mind that these resolutions 
were the spontaneous outpouring of the feelings of 
the church when the deed to this building was pre- 
sented to the church through her officials. The name- 
of the writer of this, I think, stands the first to these 
resolutions. He was then a member of the Quarterly 
Conference, but now, from age and its infirmities, is 
no longer capacitated to take an active part in the 
church, yet he feels a very deep interest in all that 
pertains to its interest. The citizens of Prattvide, and 
more especially the Methodist Church, are greatly 
indebted to Mr. Pratt for his great efforts to promote 
their moral and spiritual welfare, and the writer sin- 
cerely hopes before he dies to witness the effort to- 
carry out the original designs of that building, which 
will stand as a more lasting monument to his memory 
as a good man than that of marble which stands in 
full view of the building. 

The Sabbath-school has acted wisely in placing 
portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Pratt in full view on the 
walls, where may be seen the first originating of the 
school, and its active abettors and workers, to the close 
of their long and useful lives. How impressive were 
the almost dying utterances of the man of whom I 
write, when he said to a friend who attended him in 
his last sickness, in a voice scarcely audible, "Work 
for the church ; work for the church." He meant 
this not only for his friend then present, but for all 
the members of the church. 

Having given the brief outlines of the history of 



A BIOGRAPHY. 37 

Prattville, it is my purpose to mention some of the 
leading traits in the character of its founder. In 
doing this I am weU aware of my incompetency to 
do full justice to it, noitwithstanding thirty years of 
intimate acquaintance with him, both in his business. 
and social relations in life. That he exhibited a rare 
combination of qualities of head and heart, which 
made him the man he was, no one who knew him will 
doubt. 

But before relating further some of the leading 
traits in the character of ^Ir. Pratt, we will refer to 
a few incidents in the history of Prattville, written by 
Judge Wilkinson, editor of the S oil f hem Signal. 

When ]\Ir. Pratt moved from ^Montgomery's ]\Iills^ 
in 1837, he moved his gin shop from that place the 
latter part of the same year, and joined it to the build- 
ing where he had his shingle machine. This entire 
building was then used for a gin shop. During the 
latter part of 1839 and the first part of 1840, he 
erected six or eight operative houses and a black- 
smith's shop. The shop was located on the bank of 
the creek below the bridge, about where the store- 
house now occupied by Ward & Brother stands. In 
1840, Col. L. Spigner, now the oldest living inhabitant 
of Prattville, who had been carrying on a wood and 
blacksmith shop at ^^IcXeill's Mill, moved up to this 
place and built for a wood shop the house in which. 
]\Ir. J. A. Xummey now does business, and the old 
red building next to Col. W. H. Northington's law 
office, for a blacksmith's shop. In this same year Air. 
Pratt commenced building a large flour and grist-mill^ 



38 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

on the site where the sash and bhnd factory now 
stands. This was an undertaking, on account of its 
size and the outlay of money required, at which the 
people of the whole country was surprised. They 
again predicted that he would soon break, as such 
an enterprise at that time was so extraordinary. In 
this mill he put five sets of rocks and tfieir bolting 
chests ; in fact, he had the finest and most improved 
machinery that could be had at that time. Bolted 
meal was then something with which the people were 
not accustomed. This mill was finished in the early 
part of 1841, and proved to be a success, like all his 
other undertakings. Wheat was brought here from a 
distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and so 
crowded was it that eight or ten large wagons could 
be seen at a time, standing waiting for their turn, 
though iit ran day and night during the wheat season. 
For several years before other mills were erected, 
this piece of property was as valuable as any Mr. 
Pratt ever owned. He cut out roads running in every 
direction, and put them in good condition, digging 
up all the stumps and bridging the impassable places, 
all with his own means. 

In the early part of 1841 the Baptist Church was 
commenced, but was not finished until several years 
later. This church was built by subscription, Mr. 
Pratt donating the land and subscribing liberally him- 
self. This was the first church building erected in 
the place. In the latter part of the same year he 
commenced improving the lot on which he built his 
residence, in which Mr. H. F. DeBardelaben now 



A BIOGRAPHY. 39 

lives. He completed this building in 1842, and moved 
into it in the early part of 1843. ^^^ this year the 
foundation of the old Methodist Church was laid 
near where the fountain now is, but was not com- 
pleted until some time in 1844. The upper story of 
this building was used as a church and the lower one 
for a store. The store was occupied by Mr. B. F. 
Miles with a full stock of goods. This was the first 
store in this place, and Mr. Haywood jNIiles (a 
brother of B. F. Miles), now living in Prattville, was 
the first clerk. This building was afterwards moved 
down the creek a few hundred yards, and is now used 
by the negroes as a diurch. In 1845 the covered 
bridge over the creek, near the cotton factory, was 
built by Mr. Pratt, at his own expense; also, the 
school-house, which was situated on the side of the 
hill south of the foundry. This was a nice frame 
building, supplied with excellent seats and well fin- 
ished. During this year the old frame cotton factory 
was erected. This was a two-story building, and 
stood just below the present picker-room. In 1846 
the machinery for this factory was put in, and it 
soon started, giving employment to other hands, and 
thereby increasing the population of Prattville, and 
giving it more notoriety as a manufacturing place. 

I now proceed to sketch the life and character of 
the founder of Prattville, the principal object in view 
being to hold him up as a model for young men just 
setting out in life, having no other advantages than 
their own self-reliance and tiie business they have 
selected as a foundation for their success. These 



40 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 



advantages are within reach of every young man 
possessed of ordinary endowments of body and mind, 
without which success in any pursuit is aUogether 
doubtful There are two prerequisites necessary to 
success : first, a definite pursuit ; and, second, an 
adequate knowledge of the pursuit. In order to make 
business pleasureable rather than irksome, there 
should be a congeniality between the present and the 
peculiar taste of the individual. Men are differently 
constituted in their tastes, and it is rig'ht they should 
be. If not so, every man would follow the same pur- 
suit, much to the annoyance and inconvenience of the 
human family. As this state of things is the order 
of a wise Providence, it follows, as a matter of course, 
that every man should follow the pursuit most con- 
genial to his peculiar turn of mind. It is apparent 
'*:hat Mr. Pratt so selected his pursuit in life. 

It is due to the memory of his parents that the 
reader should be made acquainted with the parental 
training of their son Daniel, and for this purpose I 
here introduce a sketch of his life prepared by his 
youngest sister, Mrs. Eliza Holt, the only surviving 
member of that branch of the Pratt family, and who 
now resides in Prattville. This sketch is remarkable 
for its simplicity — a characteristic of all the mem- 
bers of the family with whom I have become ac- 
quainted : 

Daniel Pratt, son of Edward and Asenath Pratt, 
was born in Temple N. H., July 20, 1799. He was 
the fourth in a family of six children, of whom only 
one, the youngest, survives him. His parents were 



A BIOGRAPHY. 41 

poor but comfortable livers, obliged to use the strict- 
est economy, as their only means of support was the 
produce of a small farm in "a newly settled town. 
They were members of the Congregational church, 
and not only strict in their duty as church members, 
but as parents, in their discipline with their children. 
The Sabbath was considered by them not only a day 
of rest, but a day to be devoted to the service of God. 
They required their children to attend church and 
prayer-meetings and to avoid all vain and trifling 
conversation on that day. As Sabbath-schools were 
then unknown, there were two services during the 
day, and Sabbath-school duties were performed at 
home, by catedhising the children, or requiring them 
to read the Bible or some religious book. A novel 
was not permitted in the house. 

The educational advantas:es of Daniel, with the rest 
of the children, were limited, compared to what manv 
children now enjoy, being confined to a district school 
of eight or ten weeks in winter and the same length 
of time in summer. As soon as the subject of this 
memoir was old enough to assist in farming, he was 
deprived of the summer term, owing to the ill-health 
of his father. At the age of sixteen, as he desired to 
learn a trade, and his father had discovered in him 
a mechanical genius, he applied to a gentleman by 
the name of Putnam, who was a fine carpenter and a 
worthy man, to take Daniel and teach him his trade, 
but would not consent that he should be bound to 
stay until he was twenty-one, as was then required 
of those apprenticed, for he knew his firmness, and 



42 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

that he would remain if kindly treated. He also re- 
served the ten weeks for winter attendance at school, 
which time was to be spent at home. To all of this 
the gentleman to whom he was apprenticed readily 
agreed. 

At the age of eighteen his mother, to whom he 
was devotedly attached, died. During her illness, 
which was of several months' duration, as he was 
permitted to be with her much of the time, he acted 
the part of a tender and careful nurse. 

He continued to serve for his trade, and the attach- 
ment between him and his employer mutually in- 
creased, until he arrived at the age of twenty, when 
Mr. Putnam became involved by going security for 
another, and was forced to mortgage his home. Mr. 
Pratt felt deeply for him in his trouble, and told him 
if he would release him from the remaining year of 
his apprenticeship he would come to the South, and 
if successful in making money, would go back and 
assist him in redeeming the mortgage on his place, 
of which he had possession for only one year. He 
then went to his grandfather, who approved of his 
purpose, and offered to furnish the money to pay his 
passage out. 

He started, a young man of twenty, alone, going 
to a land of strangers. This caused his surviving 
parent, brother and sisters, much anxiety and many 
tears ; but the Lord preserved and prospered him. 
When he landed at Savannah, after a long passage, 
he found he had scarcely money enough to pay his 
fare, and told the captain of his situation : without 



A BIOGRAPHY. 43 

money, a stranger in a strange land, and uncertain 
whether he could obtain employment. The captam 
g-ave him back twenty-five dollars, "which Mr. Pratt 
told him he should replace if he ever met him again. 
He soon succeeded in finding work, and was success- 
ful in accomplishing the purpose he so much desired, 
of being able to relieve his endeared friend, ]\Ir. Put- 
nam. At the end of the year he started for home, 
and, strange to say, almost the first person he met, 
upon landing at Boston, was the captain of the ship 
on which he came out, who did not recognize him ; 
but Mr. Pratt asked him if he recollected the poor 
boy whom he took to Savannah on his ship one year 
before, who was not able to pay his passage. He 
told him he was then able, and would repay the money 
so kindly loaned. He then went to his friend, Mr. 
Putnam, and by redeeming the mortgage on his place, 
secured to him the pleasant home where he died, at 
the advanced age of ninety-three. He always ex- 
pressed the deepest gratitude for this timely aid. 
Thus, with the first hard earnings, was cultivatea 
that spirit of honesty in paying the one to whom he 
was obligated, and also of benevolence in assisting 
those who were needy, which was always practiced 
by him to the end of his useful life. After spending 
a few months at home, he thought it best to return 
South, as he could succeed better in business here. 
It was very hard parting with his numerous friends, 
particularly his invalid father, whom he never saw 
again. He was followed by a father's prayers, which 
were answered by the preservation of his life; and 



44 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

although at this time he did not profess to be a Chris- 
tian, it was not many years before his anxious friends 
were made happy by the reception of a letter, saying 
he had been brought to see the sinfulness of his 
heart, and to trust alone in the atoning blood of the 
Saviour, and had connected himself with the Metho- 
dist Church. 

By carefully noting the early training of Mr. Pratt^ 
it is clear that it was favorable for bringing out the 
character which he developed and maintained through 
a long life. He was taught in early life under the 
paternal roof to fear God and keep his command- 
ments. This he never lost sight of in all his contact 
with the business world, verifying the wise saying 
of Solomon, "Traiii up a child in the way he should 
go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." 
The reader no doubt took note of the two instances 
in which he made good his promise to Mr. Putnam, 
his boss, and the captain of the vessel in which he 
landed in Savannah, Ga. 

At a very early age he evinced self-reliance to a 
very large degree. His trade, an indomitable will in 
a sound body, an honest heart and a chest of tools 
were all his stock to commence and carry him through 
life ; with these in a strange land, and amongst 
strangers whose habits of life were entirely dissimilar 
to his own, he chose to commence life. Wherever he 
went, such was his conduct as to make friends 
amongst the better class of the people. Honest, 
faithful and punctual in all his dealings, the character 
he made was permanent and continued through life. 



A BIOGRAPHY. 45 

Many men have succeeded in amassing fortunes; 
comparatively few, however, have succeeded in estab- 
lishing the reputation that he did for liberality. His 
motto was, "Live and let live." So far from envying 
the prosperity of others, he rejoiced to see every man 
prospering in business. As a business man, he had 
no superiors and but few equals; indeed, business 
was the ruling passion with him during business 
hours. However much his devotion to business, yet 
whenever the church-bell rang he dropped his busi- 
ness, and was in his place in due time, and seemed 
as much engaged as though he was a man of leisure. 
He seemed to regard his church duties as a part of 
his business programme. In this particular he had a 
wonderful control over his will. He remarked to 
me on one occasion that whenever he left home on 
business his home affairs never troubled him. In the 
latter part of his life he was often from home, and 
during his travels he was a very close observer of 
passing events, and of men he met in his travels. On 
such occasions he Avas highly social and agreeable in 
his manners. When at home he was right after his 
business, and seemed devoid of any social qualities, 
yet when the social hour came round he was pleasant 
and agreeable to all about him. With those in his 
employ he rarely ever conversed unless on business 
connected with their immediate department during 
business hours. When things did not go on to suit 
him, he was impatient and fretful, and sometimes 
abrupt ; and yet he seldom discharg^ed a man for neg- 
lect, and rarely ever had disputes. Measuring others 



46 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

by himself, there were but few men who come fully 
up to his standard of a business man. After all, he 
exercised great forbearance towards the shortcomings 
of others. 

His friends thought that he gave himself unneces- 
sary worry about his business, and often brought on 
some sufifering by exhausting his physical powers ; 
but no persuasion from his friends, or even his family 
physician, could prevail with him to favor himself, 
even at the near approach of his last illness. Work 
was his element, and work he would, when he should 
have been in bed under treatment. He once remarked 
to me, that if he knew that to-morrow would be his 
last day on earth, he would continue his regular 
routine of work, as though such an event was afar 
off. I thought at the time this was carrying the thing 
to excess ; but it was such a spirit as this that assured 
his success in his business. Had he had no other 
object in view than his own personal emolument, his 
motives would have been sinful, but his whole career 
through life was proof positive that he was laboring 
for the benefit of others as well as himself ; for whilst 
he was liberally receiving with one hand the fruits of 
his labors, he was at the same time liberally dis- 
pensing to others with his other hand. He was un- 
selfish in his nature ; there was no littleness about 
him in any of his dealings ; he thought it poor 
economy to be engaged in picking up dimes when 
dollars were in reach. 

The excellency and strength of Mr. Pratt's char- 
acter lay in its fullness and completeness, combining 



A BIOGRAPHY. 47 

all those qualities of heart and mind which constitute 
true manliness in all the relations of life. "In busi- 
ness he was diligent, in spirit he was fervent, serving 
the Lord," thus happily blending his business with 
his religion, and his religion with his business, and 
at the same time faithfully attending to his various 
duties as husband, father, friend and neighbor, in all 
of which he was true and faithful. His love for the 
church and its interests was manifested in his very 
liberal support of its pastorate, and in making every- 
thing convenient and tasteful in all its arrangements, 
neglecting not even the minister ; for it is well known 
that, as long as he was physically able, ne superin- 
tended the duties of sexton, doing much of it with 
his own hands, and not infrequently, wdien the attend- 
ance on church was flagging, he would go round the 
village visiting families, and urging the necessity and 
importance of punctual attendance on Sunday-school 
and church. He was particularly careful to look 
after the young, knowing, as he said, they were the 
hope of the church. He lost no opportunity of attend- 
ing not only to public preaching, but to all the social 
meetings, never refusing to take an active part in 
conducting them when necessary. In these things 
he showed his completeness in Christian character, 
although he spoke not "with enticing words of man's 
wisdom." Yet such was the earnestness with which 
he spoke, and such the confidence of those who heard 
him, he never failed to make a deep impression. 

Although we dare not rely upon our works as 
meriting salvation, yet they are most assuredly the 



48 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

fruits of the grace of God through faith in Christ 
Jesus. As regards Mr. Pratt's Hberality in building 
up his place and supplying it with church and educa- 
tional advantages, there can be no question, as his 
works speak for themselves. In giving, he exercised 
great discretion, choosing rather to devote all his 
spare means to his own place. I have said all his 
spare means, which was not exactly true. He con- 
tributed liberally to several institutions of learning 
and to churdi buildings abroad, but not on what is 
termed a magnificent scale, to be seen and talked of 
by men. His giving was like a constant stream of 
water, giving refreshment to all who came in contact 
with it. A gentleman of Prattville told me he was 
travelling in Arkansas, and at a house where he put 
up to spend the night, an old man, an invalid, hear- 
ing him speak of Prattville, roused up, apparently 
deeply interested, and asked if he knew Mr. Pratt. 
The gentleman said he did. ''Well," said the invalid, 
''he gave me fifty dollars at the Hot Springs, where 
I was entirely destitute, and not only that, to my 
knowledge he gave to others equally liberal sums, to 
the amount of several hundred dollars. 

In his dealings with his laborers he was just and 
liberal, but not too liberal for his own good. No man 
knew better than he the value of labor, for he was a 
laborer himself, and knew how much and how work 
should be done. He studied his plans well, and 
counted up the cost beforehand, and, therefore, was 
seldom mistaken in his estimates. Whilst other men 
were asleep, or at leisure, enjoying themselves so- 



A BIOGRAPHY. 49 

cially, he was engaged in arranging and perfecting 
his plans for operating in the future; he seemed 
never to tire with his work. His indomitable spirit 
buoyed him up, not only through the day, but late at 
night. 

From Mrs. Holt's account of his early life and 
trainmg, it appears that 'his educational advantages 
were limited, having gone to school only about ten 
f»o»t . k£ . through a period of years during the winter 
season. This defect he felt all through his life, as 
there were many things in connection with his ex- 
tended operations which he was compelled to employ 
others to do for him, not that he lacked capacity to 
learn these things, but for the want of time to devote 
to their study. His knowledge of the common, plain 
rules of arithmetic was very deficient, and as to Eng- 
lish grammar he knew nothing, except what he 
learned from reading standard works. From his 
limited course of reading he learned to construct sen- 
tences in appropriate language, so much so that he 
could express himself with ease and profit to others. 
He wrote considerably on leading topics of the day 
for newspapers, which were greatly sought after and 
read with great interest, on account of his superior 
judgment in all matters of public interest. 

The writer does not claim for Mr. Pratt extra- 
ordinary powers of intellect, yet we may be justified 
in saying that he possessed a well-balanced mind, and 
was under the control of a will which could concen- 
trate all his faculty of mind on any one subject which 
he mig^ht think proper to investigate. 
4 



50 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

In this peculiar gift to concentrate lies the great 
secret of success in any enterprise of life. A man 
may possess what is termed a brilliant intellect, and 
yet not succeed in life for want of power in the 
will to bring his intellect to bear directly upon sub- 
jects which come up for his investigation. The world 
we live in is practical, when "Greek meets Greek" 
in direct conflict in Our business relations ; hence, the 
necessity of every man to examine both sides of all 
questions arising in his business operations. An 
astute lawyer never fails to examine both sides of 
the question, in order to meet his antagonist on his 
own side. 

For many years before his death, INIr. Pratt had 
a heavy charge on his mind, which demanded much 
close study, which he did not fail to give, devoting 
many hours in the night season as well as the day. 
He was one of the best and most successful financiers 
of the country, never failing to meet his engagements 
punctually. Notwithstanding that he lost more than 
half a million dollars by the war between the States, 
and all his arrangements were interfered with, he met 
all his indebtedness promptly. Order and system were 
observable in all his business. On one occasion the 
writer took account of the stock of his gin establish- 
ment, and such was the order and arrangement ob- 
served throughout that the work was comparatively 
light to what he expected. From what I have dis- 
covered in other members of his family, I have no 
doubt that he learned this in his family training. 

In writing of the history of Prattville, I had occa- 



A BIOGRAPHY. 51 

•sion to speak of his taste ; but the practiced eye will 
not fail to see this in everything about the place. 
His family cemetery is located on a hill overlooking 
the entire village south of his family residence. 
Whether this was a matter of taste or from neces- 
sity, arising from want of room, the writer will not 
undertake to say, but presumes that it was from the 
latter reason. There was another difficulty in the 
way of its being located on the level ; in wet times 
the water rose to within a few feet of the surface. 

Mr. Pratt was an economist, but not on a stinting 
■scale. He used the best material he could command, 
regardless of cost, in constructing his buildings. He 
provided bountifully for his household, extending to 
his servants while their owner, and to his stock com- 
fortable and commodious shelter. In all his domestic 
arrangements he had an eye to comfort and conveni- 
ence, which no doubt proved to be economy in the 
end. 

Having given this short sketch of Daniel Pratt 
as a thorough and successful business man, the writer 
feels that the true portrait of the man is incomplete 
without further giving his character as a man of 
deep and solid piety. We may infer from the short 
account given by Mrs. Holt of his early family train- 
ing, that the seeds of a religious life were sown in 
liis heart at an early period ; but, like most persons 
who leave the family altar at an early period of life, 
to take their chances to grapple with the world for a 
living, the great and important truths of personal 
and heart-felt religion were neglected until he was 



52 Hon. DANTEL PRATT. 

about thirty-three years of age. He was then hving- 
in Clinton, Ga., and, as well as I recoiUect, it was 
under the preaching of the Rev. Mr. Hardy that he 
was brought to see his want of a thorough change of 
heart. He did not hesitate or delay in setting about 
the work in earnest in working out his salvation witli 
fear and trembling in the Lord. In his religious life 
he was like himself in his worldly pursuits, deter- 
mined and thorough, leaving nothing unturned 
which might contribute to his spiritual welfare. 

The first time the writer ever saw him was at a 
Quarterly Meeting west of old Washington, and near 
his house, which was then at McNeil's Mills. 
Though not a member of the Conference, he walked 
in and invited the whole Conference to dine with 
ham. Of course all did not do so, as all who were 
within reach of home went to their homes. The 
invitation was cordial, as every one felt. The next 
time I met him was on a similar occasion, at Indian 
Hill. He was invited to take a seat, though not a 
member; it was at the last Quarterly Meeting of 
the year, when the stewards were settling up with 
their preachers ; and, as is usual on such occasions,, 
they were in arrears ; they, however, assessed each 
society or church with its proportion of the de- 
ficiency. They handed one to Mr. Pratt for his vil- 
lage, where then there was no society, and asked 
him to please try and raise the amount. Without 
hesitating a moment, he pulled out the money and 
cancelled it on the spot. This, I found out from a 
long acquaintance, was not spasmodic, but his way 



A BIOGRAPHY. 53 

of doing on all occasions when money was needed 
for useful purposes. He seemed to think that really 
money had no other value than to subserve a valuable 
purpose. This is not only a religious view of the 
subject, but a philosophic view. 

Another incident I will relate: after some sev- 
enty or eighty persons had joined the church at a 
revival of religion, the preacher advised the young 
persons, who were totally ignorant of the usages of 
the church, to procure, as far as possible. Disciplines 
of the church and read them carefully. ]Mr. Pratt 
told the preacher to order the books and he would 
foot the bill, which he did. 

These little incidents are mentioned to show that 
he did not things by halves and quarters, but on the 
whole-souled plan ; and though seemingly triflin-^, 
yet really they become the true index to the character 
of the man. Large benefactions are generally her- 
alded abroad without stint. It is the smaller ones 
occurring in every-day life that stamp the character 
of a man as a cheerful giver. His bookkeeper, Mr. 
T. B. Avery, once told me that he could never keep 
a cash account satisfactory to himself, inasmuch as 
Mr. Pratt used funds for purposes which he did not 
think proper to communicate to his bookkeeper. All 
who knew Air. Avery's method of keeping books 
knew that he was exceedingly particular in his en- 
tries, showing for what purpose the money was used. 
I scarcely need say that Air. Avery suspected that 
the money was spent for charitable purposes. 

It is not my purpose in this short sketch of Mr. 



54 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

Pratt's religious life to represent him as a faultless 
being. He had his faults as well as the rest of the 
human family, and no one knew and felt those faults 
more sensibly than he himself ; for he saw them 
through the medium of God's Word, which, if read 
honestly and prayerfully, never fails to show the 
least speck of the corruption within. That he read 
God's book honestly, the many tears he shed while 
relating his religious experience fully attest. Yes, 
faults he had ; but they were so few in comparison 
to his many virtues that they were scarcely noted, 
even by the infidel and scofifer. His parents were 
Congregationalists ; of course, his early predilections 
ran that way. In after life, however, being separated 
from this influence, he received his convictions of 
the sinfulness of his own heart under Methodist 
preaching; he joined that church, and ever after- 
wards maintained a preference for it. He was, how- 
ever, no bigot. When there was no preaching in his 
own church he was in the habit of attending other 
churches ; but he did not believe in that kind of 
loose Catholicism which preferred any and every 
church before its own. 

Thus far I have said but little of the social quali- 
ties of Mr. Pratt. Indeed, his time was so taken up 
with business during the week that he found little 
time for society. How far a man may neglect such 
with impunity I will not attempt to say. That there 
is a medium ground necessary to be observed is self- 
evident, for both mind and body need relaxation. 
Now, how far a person can be justifiable in overwork 



A biogr:^phy. 55 

it is difficult to say ; this embraces temperance in 
all things, work as well as play. Many of the best 
friends of Mr. Pratt thought he overtasked himself. 
Be this as it may, he lived to pass the allotted period 
of man's hfe, and it is altogether speculative to say 
that he injured himself. 

That he accomplished much of good, no one will 
gainsay. Indeed, the half has not been told of the 
good he did bring to bear for the amelioration of 
fallen humanity. On festive occasions, Mr. Pratt 
enjoyed himself greatly, yet he never permitted him- 
self to be led into any excess, always maintaining the 
dignity and propriety of his position in society. On 
occasions when he gave entertainments at his own 
house he was always attentive to the comfort and 
enjoyment of his guests, striving to make every one 
feel at ease. 

In conversation he was modest at all times, pre- 
ferring to listen rather than talk. He never indulged 
in foolish jesting, though he enjoyed a pleasant wit- 
ticism or repartee that gave no offence. In the com- 
pany of ladies he was ever courteous and polite ; with 
men, he never stooped to undue familiarity; he re- 
served to himself the right to repel it in others 
toward himself. This peculiar trait in his character 
saved him, doubtless, from many annoyances, and at 
the same time commanded respect. He had few 
confidants. 

To sum up the whole matter, Mr. Pratt accom- 
plished far more than ordinary men. He passed 
through the varied changes of his life and times 



56 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

without the least compromise of his character as an 
honest man. 

At one time he lost upwards of half a million 
dollars, besides having his business operations sus- 
pended more than three years. The strength of his 
character lay in his indomitable spirit and the power 
to concentrate the faculties of his mind upon the one 
purpose of his life. The same faculties would have 
succeeded in any avocation of life — under the same 
control and with the same honest and unselfish 
heart. 

The last and crowning act of his life, in a busi- 
ness capacity, was his Red Mountain enterprise. 
This was undertaken reluctantly, on account of his 
age and infirmity, for he doubted if he should live 
to witness its completion ; yet his State pride urged 
him to undertake it. He believed something should 
be do'ue to develop the mineral resources of the State. 
He thought labor should be diversified in order that 
the South might sustain herself. He seemed to pos- 
sess almost a prophetic vision, and felt convinced that 
cotton would need assistance in order to sustain the 
South. 

For this enterprise he felt great solicitude. He 
remarked to the writer a few days before his last 
sickness, 'Tf it is the will of God, I should Hke to 
see the completion of this enterprise." This was 
denied him ; yet on his death-bed he learned that one 
furnace was in successful operation, and a second 
would soon be in blast. 

Although not a native-born citizen, he loved the 



A BIOGRAPHY. 57 

State of his adoption ; and Alabama has great cause 
to be proud of such a man. Mr. Pratt never hoarded 
up money, but expended ah his means in building 
manufactories. Money by him was valued only as it 
subserved to the betterment of mankind. He re- 
garded himself only as a steward ; surely, he was a 
faithful one. Plis patriotism was of the purest kind, 
never compromising his State for the sake of popu- 
larity. It is generally known that he was opposed 
to secession, fearing ability to sustain the same ; yet 
when Alabama did secede, he sustained her to the 
last. He probably gave more of his means to help 
the Confederacy than any other man in Alabama ; 
and when the cause was lost, he never alluded to his 
anti-secession principles, nor said, "I told you so," 
but bravely sympathized with his own people and 
shared with them the common loss. 

As a husband, he was faithful and devoted ; as a 
father, tender and affectionate ; as a friend, firm and 
loyal ; as a neighbor, kind-hearted and generous ; as 
a citizen, coming up to the full meaning of a Chris- 
tian gentleman ; as a master, humane and liberal in 
providing all the comforts of life for his slaves, who 
obeyed, respected and loved him. 

Mr. Pratt made his success by legitimately pur- 
suing his mechanical operations, without once turn- 
ing to the right or the left, to engage in speculation 
of any kind. Reader, please observe this feature in 
his character and do likewise. 

Nothing is more prejudicial to success in life than 
instability in our pursuits ; to pursue any avocation. 



58 Hon. DANIEL FRATT. 

however humble, with a single purpose, will, to a 
great extent, ensure success. 

In the bestowment of favors, Mr. Pratt made 
no parade ; he was a cheerful giver, and usually took 
the beneficiary on surprise. For many years he main- 
tained a school for the poor children of Prattville. 
When new families came from the "pine woods" to 
work in the cotton factory, Mrs. Pratt, always 
thoughtful, would see that the children of those fami- 
lies were supplied with suitable clothing to enter 
Sunday-school the first Sunday after their arrival. 

A few years before the death of Mr. Pratt his 
picture gallery had to be abandoned because of the 
woodwork being afifected by dry rot. He sent two of 
the largest paintings to an institution of learning in 
Georgia — Athens, I think. The newspapers at the 
time, with proper appreciation, complimented his lib- 
erality in thus remembering the State where he spent 
the first years of his sojourn in the South. 

Mr. Pratt was far-seeing in many ways. A few 
years before his death he had young men in charge 
of his manufacturing establishments, with his own 
general supervision, gradually loosening his hold on 
business in order to initiate them. May they prove 
faithful to the trust imposed in them, and may it 
result in great good, and demonstrate the fact that 
the mantle of Mr. Pratt has fallen on shoulders 
worthy to bear the same, like their illustrious pre- 
decessor. May they continue to demonstrate this 
truth, that a man may be earnestly engaged in busi- 
ness, yet always in conformity with a Christian life. 



A BIOGRAPHY. 59 

If Dr. Manley could have seen the sequel of the life 
of Mr. Pratt, I am certain he would have found that 
he did not mistake the man, and that his confidence 
was not misplaced. 

Both men have ceased from their labors on earth, 
but their works will surely follow them, and a vast 
multitude, now unborn, will rise up and call them 
blessed. 



REMINISCENCES OF DANIEL 
PRATT. 

By AMOS SMITH. 

/^ N the 28th January, 1837 (Saturday), I took 
^^ passage on the steamer Comet for Washington, 
Autauga county, arriving the next Tuesday night, 
about midnight. I had a machine for sawing shin- 
gles, bringing it to Eber N. Coe, who had a saw-mill 
on the opposite side of the creek from the present 
site of the Allenville Factory. I put the machine in 
his mill, and it gave him perfect satisfaction. Mr. 
Pratt, with other gentlemen, came to see the machine. 
He invited me to visit him, and I spent the night 
of February 22nd with his family. After concluding 
my business with Mr. Coe, I went to New Orleans, 
and put a machine in operation. I then returned to 
Mobile, and again went to Washington. Mr. Pratt 
was then making arrangements to build a grist-mill. 
I agreed to get some machinery for the mill and 
secure a wheelwright to put it up. 

I left Washington May 3rd, and arrived home at 
Meridan, N. H., May 30th. I returned with ma- 
chinery, and Mr. Litheid to put it up, November 13th. 
Mr. Litheid went to work immediately, but I did not 
reach Washington before May 14, 1838. The work 
was completed June 25th. Mr. Pratt then engaged 
me to take charge of his gin shop for one year. 



A BIOGRAPHY. 6i 

The business was then at the McNeil place, but 
next year all was moved to Prattville ; at that time, 
however, the place had no name. Mr. Pratt imme- 
diately had the distance to Washington measured, and 
mile-posts put up. The place had occasionally been 
called ''Pratt's Mills." William Ormsby was about 
to letter the posts that way, when I remarked "Pratt- 
ville" would be more appropriate. He went to see 
Mr. Pratt, and came back and marked the posts, "One 
mile to Prattville," etc. The name has never been 
changed. Mr. Pratt made a proposition for me to 
go into partnership with him and his two brothers- 
in-law, the Messrs. Ticknor, which I accepted for a 
term of five years, commencing January i, 1840. At 
the expiration of that time I moved my family to 
Prattville and went in for five years more. Then a 
change was made in the firm. Mr. Griswold and son, 
from Georgia, took Mr. Pratt's interest; but, long 
before the five years expired, Mr. Griswold retired, 
not seeing enough profit in the business, Prattville 
being so far from market. The son sold his interest 
to Mr. Mims, and in 1857 I left the firm and moved 
my family to Philadelphia. ... 

Note. — Mr. Amos Smith lived to be almost a 
hundred years old. He would have rounded out his 
century on his next anniversary. He died, a few 
years since, at his home in Philadelphia. 



A DAY WITH DANIEL PRATT AT 
PRATTVILLE. 

\^From the Cotton Planter and Soil ] 

TV yr R. PRATT had long, long ago invited us to 
^ ^ visit him and examine his manufacturing estab- 
lishment at Prattville, in Autauga county, some four- 
teen miles west of Montgomery. Our incessant 
business arrangements prevented the pleasure of this 
visit from time to time, till finally, some ten days 
since, we determined to defer it no longer. Prattville 
is a thrifty and handsomely situated manufacturing 
village, on Autauga creek, about four miles from 
Washington, on the Alabama river. This village has 
been built up by the industry and energy of Mr. 
Daniel Pratt, mainly, whose name it bears, within the 
last few years, probably eighteen. We arrived at 
Prattville as the sun was going down, when every- 
thing inanimate, with the operatives in the various 
factory departments, were, with the setting sun, clos- 
ing the performances of the day. We found Mr. 
Pratt at home with his family, with whom we spent 
the evening to a late hour, in various conversations 
on the subject of agricultural improvement, agricul- 
tural machinery and Southern manufacturing, in all 
of which Mr. Pratt is deeply and practically inter- 
ested. And we found Mrs. Pratt also, who is a ladv 



A BIOGRAPHY. 63 

of unusual intelligence and social vivacity, instruct- 
ingly interesting on every subject appertaining to im- 
provements about the homestead, such as tastefully 
arranged shrubbery, fine fruit and vegetable gardens 
and terraced vineyards, which contribute so essen- 
tially to the comfort, content and true pleasure of 
home, sweet home ! 

In the morning we commenced early after break- 
fast, as we had a great day's work before us. We 
spent the first hour in Mr. Pratt's gallery of paintings. 
Many hours we could have remained there, had time 
permitted, in contemplating the canvassed scenes of 
passed grandeur and greatness. Its beauty cannot be 
appreciated in description, however; it must be seen 
to be fully enjoyed. From the gallery we proceeded 
to the gin factory, which one at Prattville might easily 
imagine to be the pet of Mr. Pratt's ambition. 

As ycu enter the door of the first floor you have 
in full view a line of shafting 250 feet long, on which, 
at suitable distances apart, are over seventy drums 
for driving the various machines used in the manu- 
facture of gins. This room is 250 by 50 feet, fitted 
with machines adapted to the different kinds of work 
and material employed in the construction of gins. 

The second floor is used for breasting and finish- 
ing gins, it has a large room partitioned off for the 
purpose of testing gins with seed cotton. Fifty 
pounds are run through each gin, and a note made 
of the time required to gin it. If the speed is not 
suflicient, or there is any other defect found in the 
performance, it is remedied at once. No gin is 



64 • Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

allowed to leave the shop until it performs satisfac- 
torily. 

The third floor is all in one room — probably the 
largest in the State — 250 by 50 feet. Here the gins 
are painted and varnished, and put in order for box- 
ing and shipping. There is an elevator large enough 
to receive the gins, which raises and lowers them 
from one floor to another by the aid of machinery. 

In the garret is a cistern, kept full of water, which 
is raised from a spring underneath the shop by ma- 
chinery. From this cistern each room is supplied with. 
pure cold water by means of pipes. The waste water 
from the cistern is conveyed to the centre of the 
square in front of the shop, where it jets thirty feet, 
and falls into a large circular reservoir. 

Connected with the gin shop by a railway is a brick 
lumber-house, 172 feet long by 40 feet wide. In this 
house the lumber for manufacturing the gin stands is 
carefully stacked aw^ay, where it remains two years 
to season before it is used. An iron foundry is also 
connected wath the shop, which works up about a 
hundred tons of iron annually. The gin shop turns 
out about $160,000 worth of gins annually. 

Adjoining the gin shop is a brick building, three 
stories high and 250 feet long, which is used for a 
grist-mill, a sash, door and blind factory, a machine 
shop, a shop for making horse mills, and a carriage 
and wagon shop, all furnished with suitable ma- 
chinery for these various branches of business. The 
machinery in both buildings is driven by one breast 
wheel of sixty-horse power. 



■>i- '■%: 




A BIOGRAPHY. 65 

There are fifty hands actively employed all the 
time in the gin factory and foundry together, many 
of \Vhom are slaves, that seem to be well skilled in 
the performance of this work. 

There is also quite an extensive and flourishing 
cotton factory here, a large share of the stock of 
which is owned by Mr. Pratt. It contains twenty- 
eight hundred spindles, one hundred looms, and is 
worked by one hundred and fifty hands, several of 
them slaves. It works up twelve hundred bales of 
cotton, and turns out two thousand bales of osnaburgs 
annually. The company contemplate at an early 
period putting up a new and greatly enlarged build- 
ing for increasing their spindles and looms. 

At a short distance below the gin factory — per- 
haps a half mile — Mr. Pratt has fitted up a large 
two-story brick building, in which he has already 
received and is putting up machinery of the latest 
improvement for carding and spinning wool, to be 
manufactured into kerseys, in another department of 
the cotton factory. 

After examining the various factories and ma- 
chinery, we took a stroll with Mr, Pratt through his 
garden, orchard and vineyard, where we found the 
same skill, industry and improvement on the soil ; in 
a rich and well-cultivated vegetable garden, a beau- 
tiful orchard of fine fruit trees, embracing various 
varieties of the apple, peach, pear, plum and fig, all 
healthful and thrifty, and a vineyard of perhaps three 
to five acres of Scuppernongs and Catawbas, terraced 
in the most picturesque style to the summit level of 
5 



66 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

a high and very steep hill, perhaps one hundred feet 
or more perpendicular, the upper terrace above the 
lower or first. The vines are all kept up by castiron 
posts, set along on the terraced embankments, and 
wire railings from post to post. This vineyard plat, 
so favorably located, contains, in all, twenty-five acres 
of land, and enclosed by a substantial brick and picket 
fence. 

From the vineyard we returned to the mansion,, 
where Mrs. Pratt had prepared for us an elegant 
dinner, with which we had the pleasure of testing 
several specimens of fine Autauga wine, the pure juice 
of the grape, and fruit of the vineyard we had just 
before examined. O""^ this wine Mrs. Pratt had sev- 
eral casks, the vin'tage of last year. 

Thus closed one of the most interesting social 
visits it has been our good fortune to enjoy for years 
past. 

Of Mr. Pratt's gins, we can say to our readers 
in want of a first-rate stand, unhesitatingly — and we 
say so without prejudicing any other factory — that, 
with all his late improvements and the advantages 
afforded by his large factory arrangements, he is able 
to furnish the neatest, most complete and best cotton 
gin stand in America. 




#-^ 



AD\^ERTISEMENT 

Issued by Mr. Pratt, January, 1858, Showing, his Method 
OF Conducting Business, and Announcing to the 
World the Manufactures of Prattville. 

With an experience of Twenty-Seven years in the Gin 
Business— during which time he has made and sold nearly 
Twelve Thousand Stands, together with extensive build- 
ings, thoroughly provided with the best of machinery and 
material, and with good workmen— the undersigned feels no 
hesitancy in warranting his Gins to be equal in workmanship 
and performance, to the best made by any manufacturer. 

His Gins are all Tried with Seed Cotton before leaving 
the Factory, and none sent away that will not perform well. 
He could produce thousands of certificates' from planters, 
testifying to the superiority of his Gins, but the fact that his 
sales during the past year have amounted to one hundred 
and forty-four thousand dollars, is a sufficient testimonial. 

Heretofore, it has been his custom to employ travelling 
agents to sell Gins in different sections of the cotton growing 
States, but as it is attended with a very heavy expense, he 
has concluded to dispense in a great measure with such 
agencies, and to rely upon Planters, who may be disposed to 
patronize him, to order their Gins direct from the factory. 
During the fall he will send persons out to see that gins per- 
form well. He solicits the patronage of all in want of Gins. 
It is desirable that orders should be forwarded early, so that 
there need be no delay in delivering. 

'^^ Those who order are requested to be particular in 
stating the name of their Post-Office, on what road their 
plantations are situated, and the distance and direction from 
the Court House. 

'^^ Gin Segments and Bolts, and Mill Gearing will be 
furnished from his Foundry at short notice. 



68 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

The following local agents will attend promptly to orders 
for his Gins : 

H. Kendall Carter & Co., New Orleans, La. 

Mather, Hughes & Saunders, Galveston, Tex. 

H. P. Coolidge, Helena, Ark. 

F. M. Gilmer & Co., Montgomery, Ala. 

E. M. Apperson & Co., Memphis, Tenn. 

Hale & Murdock, Columbus, Miss. 

Campbell & Co., Mobile, Ala. 

The following is a statement of the business of Prattville- 
for the year 1857: 

Cotton Gin Manufactory, $144,000 60 

Prattville Manufacturing Co., I5i>724 oo- 

Sash, Door and Blind Manufactory, 13,360 00 

Corn Mill (Horse-Power), 17,16000 

Foundr)^, 1 1,432 00 

Carriage, 6,500 00 

Tin, 3,050 GO 

Machine and Blacksmith's Shops, 8,694 00 

Printing Business, 8,000 oo- 

Mercantile Business, 155,249 00 

Total, $519,169 oo- 

DANIEL PRATT 
Prattville, January, 1858. 



REMINISCENCES OF THE LIFE OF 
DANIEL PRATT. 

By Mrs. S. F. H. TARRANT. 

^~T^ HERE is no truer expression than the following : 
"■- "The force and development of a country de- 
pends mainly upon the industry and energy of its 
individual men." Then, what a vast debt the State 
of Alabama owes to Daniel Pratt, in his career during 
the forty years of his life in this Commonwealth. I 
knew him for a period of twenty-five years. During 
a greater part of that time my father, Gardner Hale,, 
was intimately associated in business for him. Mr. 
Pratt was seeking a new superintendent for the cotton 
factory. He made a proposition, which my father 
accepted, and moved his family to Alabama. He took 
charge of the cotton manufactory, which he found 
largely in arrears, yet the second year of his adminis- 
' tration the company was able to pay a dividend. 

My father was quick to appreciate the value of 
new methods and to invent others ; as an illustration 
of which it may be related that, after he had been in 
control of the business a few years, he conceived the 
idea of experimenting on finer cloth ; but at that time 
(more than a half century since) the public doubted 
wdiether manufacturing in Alabama would be success- 
ful, therefore some ingenious device must be used in 



70 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

order to convince men against tlieir will. The fine 
clo'th was made, in limited quantity, baled, stamped 
with some Indian name, sent to New York, and 
shipped back to Montgomery, finding a ready sale, 
and was in demand. ]\Ir. Pratt's attention was called 
to tlie cloth in Montgomery, and when 'he returned 
to Prattville he said, "Mr. Hale, why can't we make 
such cloth in Prattyille?" "Well, I think we can," 
replied Mr. Hale ; "and now that the little scheme 
has proved a success, wx will ship that cloth direct 
to Montgomery, and not send any more by way of 
New York." One can imagine the surprise and 
pleasure of Mr. Pratt. 

It is always an easy matter to behold results, but 
how few know of the beginnings? Mr. Pratt had 
a plank road built, four miles, to Washington, the 
landing being on the Alabama river, where he shipped 
his gins ; but for years he had talked of railroads, and 
wrote many letters on the subject. I here insert one 
that was printed in the Southern Statesman, ]\Iay 26, 

1855: 

"Autauga County and its Resources. 

'T know it will be asked why a railroad would 
benefit so vastly the various interests of Autauga 
county. Some will say we have a navigable river 
the whole length ; that transportation by the river 
would not be very expensive : that if Autauga county 
could not prosper with si.ch facilities, it would not 
w^ith railroad advantages. 

Any person wdio has had much experience in 



A BIOGRAPHY. 71 

manufacturing will agree with me when I say it re- 
quires concentration of machinery and capital to make 
manufadturing profitable, and that capital and ma- 
chinery will concentrate where the greatest facilities 
are found. There are three things to be considered 
to ensure success: first, health; second, motive 
pozver; third, accessibility to market. The two first 
w^e have ; the third we shall have if we can succeed 
in building our railroads — one running across our 
streams, connecting us with Selma and the western 
railroads on one side, and Wetumpka, Tallasse and 
the Georgia roads on the other side — the northern 
road to intersect this at the most accessible point, 
which will furnish us with cheap building materials 
and provisions. Let us suppose that Tallasse has two 
millions of dollars invested in manufacturing, which 
she has ample power for ; Wetumpka the same ; Mor- 
tar, Autauga, Swift, Little Mulberry and Big Mul- 
berry creeks, two millions more, which would make 
six millions of capital invested on about sixty miles 
of the road. I suppose I have put the motive power 
of these streams far below their capacity. With the 
facilities we would have for getting iron, coal and 
building materials, we could build large machine 
shops, and all machinery cheaper than it could be ob- 
tained abroad. Alechanics from all parts of the coun- 
try w^ould seek employment here ; operatives would 
flock here in abundance to supply the demand. The 
New Orleans and ^Mobile markets would be easily 
reached by railroad or steamboats, as also all markets 
northeast of us. From the West Point road to Selma 



y2 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

will be a link of a road running across Alabama, Mis- 
sissippi, Louisiana and Texas, and probably to the 
Pacific Ocean. I doubt whether as good water power 
could be found on the whole route as that mentioned 
above, and I feel confident that it will not run through 
a more healthy section of country. The manufac- 
turing villages would be from ten to twenty miles 
distant from eacb other, on the streams mentioned, 
which I would consider far preferable to the same 
amount of capital concentrated in one place. We 
might expect better health, better society, and as 
changes seem to be necessary for some persons, they 
could go from village to village, without inconve- 
nience to themselves or their employers. One village 
would stimulate another in trying to excel, and we 
would not fear epidemics in this piney woods range. 

"Many will say that this is a visionary production. 
I do not expect tliis generation to see this accom- 
plished, but I hope to see them make one step towards 
it, which is in building the railroads mentioned ; the 
balance, I predict, will follow in due time. Should 
the first be neglected at the proper time, the proba- 
bility is the balance will be a failure. 

''From the knowledge I have of the country from 
Selma to Wetumpka, Tallasse and the West Point 
road, it appears to me to be the best route that could 
be seledted. It 'has several advantages over the Mont- 
gomery route. First, the distance would be short- 
ened. Second, it would cross the rivers above naviga- 
tion, which is vastly in its favor. Third, it would 
build up these manufacturing towns, and thereby add 




K 




A BIOGRAPHY. 73 

greatly to the profits of the road; and, fourth, it 
would add very much to the revenue of the State. 
The northern road would cross on the same bridge 
at Wetumpka to Montgomery, and thence connect 
with the Pensacola and Mobile road. 

"These are my views, hastily drawn, with the hope 
that some person better qualified will take up the 
subject. If the route running across the water courses 
mentioned is not the proper one for a road, I stand 
open to conviction, and will advocate the best route. 
I am a railroad man, and what some might call a 
^ State aid' m.an. I would not advocate any railroad 
that I thought would not be for the interest of our 
Staite; neither would I advocate any assistance from 
the State only where she could be made perfectly 
secure. When this could be done, it would not only 
be helping railroad companies, but add largely to the 
revenues of the State. I think every county through 
which the road would run ought to do what it can 
to promote the building of the road for the same 
reason. Individuals may reap benefits without the 
State sharing in them, but the State cannot be bene- 
fited without in some degree benefiting its citizens 
generally. If the State can loan her credit to a com- 
pany without risk of loss she ought to do so, because 
she would be the greatest recipient of the favor. 
Railroads not only increase the value of real estate, 
but they build up many towns and villages, which 
add greatly to her revenue. 

"The little village in which I live would not have 
had an existence had not the water power been used 



74 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

for manufacturing purposes ; the tax of which last 
year was $1,623.86. It will probably be $2,000 this 
year. A half dozen such villages would help the 
revenue of the county considerably. Our policy ought 
to be to invite capital into our State, instead of driv- 
ing it out, as has been the case for some years back. 

"Daniel Pratt.'' 



The following letter was written by Mr. Pratt, and 
printed in the Cotton Planter in 1859: 

''Alabama Improvements and the True Interests 

OF Her People. 
"Dr. Cloud. 

"Dear Sir: I have just been reading an article 
in the South Countryman, published at Marietta, Ga., 
written by Col. Mark A. Cooper, on 'the subject of 
internal improvements and Southern enterprise. It is 
an article which corresponds very nearly with my own 
views, and has brought some of my old ideas into my 
head again. 

''Colonel Cooper advocates a railroad to the min- 
eral and farming regions of Cherokee, Ga., and points 
out its advantages to the State. I could not but think 
of our North and South Alabama railroad, that would 
run through a region probably much richer than that 
of Cherokee, Ga. I thought of the great change that 
would be brought about in our State if this road was 
built and in operation. The many manufacturing 
villages that would spring up, the increased value of 
the land, and the vast revenue the State would derive 
from it. 



A BIOGRAPHY. 75 

"We would not have to go out of our State to 
procure our iron, lime, coal or marble, but should 
have them at home, of the best quality, and as cheap 
as could be procured elsewhere. 

"These are important articles that we must use 
dailv in vast quantities. These are articles that, if 
procured here, would annually save or retain millions 
in the State, and also draw from other States. 

"I have also thought how this road could be built 
— whether there is individual enterprise and wealth 
near the line of the road to build it. Aly conclusion 
is that there is not. If individual enterprise and capi- 
tal in all the States north of us have failed to dig 
through the mountains, surely we need not expect it 
to be more successful in Alabama. Who, then, is to 
build it? I answer, those most deeply interested; 
those who will reap the benefit of it. Who is this? 
I ask. Is it not the State of Alabama — the whole 
State ? I certainly think so. Then I say, let the State 
of Alabama cut through the mountains ; and let her 
enterprising citizens build to and from it just as many 
branches as they need, and as they can make it their 
interest to build. The number of these, I doubt not, 
will be many. 

"I frofess to be a Southern rights man, and 
strongly contend that the South ought to maintain 
her rights at all hazards. I would, however, pursue 
a somewhat dififerent course from that of our poli- 
ticians. I would not make any flaming, fiery speeches 
and threats, but, on the other hand, I would go quietly 
and peaceably to work, and make ourselves less de- 



76 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

pendent on those who abuse and would gladly ruin 
us. I would use our own iron, our own coal, our own 
lime, our own marble, our own make of axes, ho^s, 
spades, firearms, powder, wagons, carriages, saddles,, 
bridles and harness, clothing for our negroes, plows,, 
doors, sash and blinds, shoes and boots, and last, but 
not least, our own cotton gins. 

"You will say all this looks very well, but who is 
to accomplish it, and how is it to be done? I say it 
could be accomplished, although it might require 
many years. 

"In the first place, we must have facilities, and 
the most important to commence with are railroads to 
such portions of our territory as will make the raw 
material available and cheap, by furnishing quick 
transportation ; so that a mechanic or manufacturer 
can obtain such articles as he daily uses in a short 
space of time. Instead of having to order from New 
York and Boston, six months in advance of the time 
he wishes to use the articles, and paying interest on 
it, let him order from our own or an adjoining State^ 
where it could be obtained in one week, and, at the 
same time, get as good and as cheap an article, and 
save the interest on his capital, say from three to six 
months, and, what is still better, save the whole cost, 
or rather retain it in our State, instead of sending it 
in bills of exchange on New York, at a premium of 
one per cent. One branch of business will build up 
another, and competition in business will regulate the 
prices. Some may say, 'We have not capital in the 
South to invest in such enterprise.' Give me the other 



A BIOGRAPHY. -jj 

necessary facilities, and I will guarantee the capital. 
Give proper encouragement, and you will be furnished 
with mechanics and manufacturers. I know this will 
require time. I also know that hitherto we have at 
the South pursued a wrong course. Let us attend 
strictly to our business, and if others interfere we 
will defend ourselves, and eventually bring them to 
our terms. 

"I say, then, let us go on and build such bulwarks 
as will not only defend ourselves, but conquer our 
enemies. I am trying to reverse things a little ; I get 
all my shafting from Etowah, Ga., say forty tons per 
annum. I find it a better article than I get from the 
North, and as cheap. I use about one hundred and 
fifty tons of pig iron, mostly from Shelby county, Ala. 
I think it equal to any iron made. I get all my lime 
from Alabama, the best I ever used. The Prattville 
Manufacturing Company work up about 1,200 bales 
of Alabama cotton and 120,000 pounds Southern wool 
annually. For the past twelve years I have been 
patronizing Southern schools. I have carried it so far 
as to bring out eight children from the Northern 
States, and educated them in Alabama. Some pretend 
to show their works by their faith; I hope to show 
my faith by my works, so long as God blesses me with 
health and strength. 

"Daniel Pratt.'" 

Note. — Nearly a half century since above letter was writ- 
ten Mr. Pratt looked down the years, with prophetic vision. 



78 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

It has been said, "Contrast is one of the laws of 
sympathy;" and no doubt there was something in 
the magnetic heat of the Southern pulse quite fasci- 
nating 'to a young man from New England. In those 
days, so long ago, Mr. Pratt met few men from his 
native heath in Georgia or Alabama, compared to 
the hundreds and thousands now found in the South, 
who, though from New England, are seemingly more 
to the manor born than their neighbors who have 
always lived in the South. Mr. Pratt, the young man 
from New Hampshire, with his cool temperament, 
caught the prevailing tone of geniality without losing 
his characteristic calculation. 

The brave young man who left his native New 
England to seek his fortune had made a name in a 
few years which caused his native town, Temple, to 
feel honored by his presence. In 1858 that town 
celebrated its centennial, and the following letter was 
written by Mr. Pratt in response to an invitation to 
attend : 

"Prattville, Ala., September 8, 1858. 

"Dear Sir: Yours of the 15th instant, with an 
invitation to attend your Centennial Celebration of 
the settlement of Temple, has been received. I should 
be much pleased to be with you on that interesting 
occasion, but the distance is such I could not con- 
veniently attend. 

"Will you allow me to say a few words on this 
interesting occasion? It is nearly forty-three years 
since I left Temple, the place of my birth, and thirty- 



A BIOGRAPHY. 79 

eight since I left New Hampshire to come South. 
Notwithstanding the length of time that has elapsed, 
I still look back with pleasure to the time when I lived 
in your town, and bring to mind many of its inhabi- 
tants. I also remember the great rocks and hills, 
which, on my last visit there, appeared much more 
natural to me than the people I met. The former I 
found much as I left them ; but, sad to reflect, most 
of the old inhabitants had passed away. I shall soon 
follow them. When I first settled in Alabama, the 
distance, in point of time, between here and New 
Hampshire was great. It took me between two and 
three weeks to travel it. I can now go there in one- 
fourth of that time, and with much more ease. This 
is certainly a great improvement; but it is, however, 
almost lost sight of when we consider the lightning 
speed at which we can communicate with our friends 
and with business men. 

"When we reflect upon the great advantages we 
enjoy as a nation, and the superiority of our privileges 
over those of any other people on the globe, ought 
we not to be grateful to that Being who, by a special 
providence, has granted us these blessings? And, 
fur'thermoTe, ought we not, by all means in our power, 
endeavor to perpetuate these precious privileges 
through all time ? We are the most independent peo- 
ple on earth. We have a great variety of climate and 
soil — can raise and manufacture every article we ac- 
tually need, as well as have also the luxuries of life. 

"The New England States are blessed with a 
healthy location, excellent water power, and an enter- 



8o Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

prising, energetic people. Their soil is nothing to 
boast of; that, however, is offset by their excellent 
water power and the health of their location. Nature 
seems to have designated them for manufacturing 
States. The inhabitants have so assisted nature, with 
railroad facilities, that probably New England is the 
most desirable country in the world for that purpose. 
But what could New England do if disconnected with 
other portions of the country ? A large portion of its 
inhabitants would be obliged to leave for more fertile 
regions or starve. What was the great Western coun- 
try designed for? and w-hat the Southern States? 
Was the former to raise wheat, corn, beef and pork, 
all to be consumed at home, and the latter — the 
South — to raise cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco for 
their own exclusive consumption? If so, what would 
become of the manufacturing States ? Was California 
to dig gold, and keep and use it all herself? It seems 
to me that it needs but little reflection to decide that 
this great and fertile country was intended for a great 
and united people. We were made dependent upon 
each other, for the purpose of securing strength and 
developing the agricultural and mechanical skill and 
resources of the country. 

"A happier people does not exist on earth. The 
laboring classes are better fed and cared for than In 
any other portion of the world. We have a popula- 
tion better adapted to the various climates and occu- 
pations of the country, as a whole, than any other. 
We are certainly a happy, thriving and prosperous 
people — and but one thing is necessary to secure 



A BIOGRAPHY. 8i 

the perpetuity of these blessings: that is, for each 
division of the country to attend to its own individual 
interests — the North to manufacture, the South to 
provide the raw material, the West to furnish the 
provisions, and California the circulating medium. In 
conclusion, I would offer this sentiment: May God 
continue to bless us as a nation, and may we appre- 
ciate the blessing and strive to retain it. 
"Yours respectfully, 

"Daniel Pratt. 
"Mr. Nahum A. Child, Temple, N. Hf 

Mr. Pratt sent his check for fifty dollars to aid 
in the expenses of the celebration. 

Although to write the name of Daniel Pratt as a 
genius might not accord with his idea of propriety, 
he did possess the qualities which ensure success, 
namely, common sense and perseverance. More than 
one writer has defined genius as common sense inten- 
sified. 

The public deeds of ]\Ir. Pratt are familiar to 
every one who knows of Prattville and the works 
around Birmingham honored by his name — Pratt 
City, Henry Ellen Mines, and others — but the per- 
sonal attributes of this man are in many ways dis- 
tinguished from the attributes of other great men, 
and should become a most interesting study for young 
and old throughout our land ; therefore, I can con- 
ceive no more pleasant duty than to bring these before 
the public in such a manner as will ensure preserva- 
tion. Daniel Pratt was resolved to find a way, or 
6 



82 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

make one. Surely he made a laudable reputation 
during life, and left a name worthy to be honored 
and revered by posterity. He ever strove to be helpful 
to his fellow-man. Not college men alone have 
accomplished most in life, for often the most prolific 
school is the school of difficulty. 

From Du Bose's excellent History of Alabama I 
copy the following: "A few far-sighted men had 
braved the impressions of the times, and entered other 
lines of business. Daniel Pratt, who had become im- 
mensely wealthy in the manufacture of cotton gins 
and the coarser products of the loom, with his son- 
in-law, H. F. DeBardeleben, imbued with the spirit 
of new enterprise, opened mines and planted furnaces 
in the mineral belt around Birmingham, bringing a 
brighter future within the vision of development. 
Other gentlemen of similar enterprise saw the avenues 
to commercial and industrial independence, through 
mining and manufacturing, furnaces, foundries, fac- 
tories, mills and machine shops, began to work up the 
raw material of dormant wealth. The compiler of 
these memoirs is of opinion that Birmingham ov/es 
to Daniel Pratt's thousands, used by that great de- 
veloper, H. F. DeBardeleben, more than time or per- 
sons will ever give the credit." 

During the civil war, Mr. Pratt spent his money 
freely and faithfully for the good of Alabama. 

I recall an incident, when the dark shadow of war 
gathered over our loved Southland. A company of 
our best young men — "The Prattville Dragoons" — 
responded cheerfully to the call, "To arms," and went 



A BIOGRAPHY. 83 

with the first troops, yir. Pratt presented to every 
member of this cavalry company a uniform, made of 
black broadcloth, trimmed with gold braid. No other 
company in the State had a uniform so handsome. 
\\'hen any member of this company came home on 
furlough he wore this uniform, and in every instance 
a private was ushered into the coach for officers. 
When death laid low a member of the Prattville 
Dragoons, he was clothed in this dress suit. Thus, 
the gift from Mr. Pratt served as a passport in the 
halls of gaiety, on the thoroughfares of travel, or a 
martial shroud when Hfe's fitful fever ended in camp. 

Adjutant-General (Confederate Veterans) A. C. 
Oxford, of Birmingham, kindly wished to furnish a 
good photograph of Mr. Pratt for this volume, be- 
cause of his high regard and love for the man, relates 
the following : "The first time I ever saw Mr. Daniel 
Pratt he unconsciously performed a kindness for rne 
which I shall never forget. I was going from Selma 
to Montgomery (horseback), to join my company, 
when, just as I reached the residence of Mr. Pratt, 
in Prattville, the rain poured down in torrents. I 
stopped for shelter under the projecting eaves of a 
building. Mr. Pratt saw me. invited me into his 
hospitable mansion, gave me dinner, fed my horse, 
then told his good wife to put some garments into 
my haversack. I have thought of that incident a 
hundred times, and revere the memory of that noble 
benefactor of his race." 

Daniel Pratt blended the actual and the ideal — 
the cotton gin, an exponent of the former, and the 



84 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

picture gallery (with its numerous large paintings 
in massive gilt frames), an illustration of the latter. 
It has been well said, "The habitual contemplation 
of the beautiful tends to soften the asperities of the 
heart and make its strong places gush with the waters 
of charity and love." 

The picture gallery had two entrances : one from 
the flower yard, with its beautiful hedges of cape 
jessamine, in the centre of which played a fountain. 
The other entrance was from the long back piazza 
of the residence, shaded by the beautiful live oak 
trees. Skylights were so arranged that the paintings 
could be seen to best advantage. One end of the 
gallery was entirely covered with a canvas on which 
was represented the interior of St. Peter's Church,. 
Rome, the processions of priests and cardinals ap- 
pearing life-size when viewed from a distance. Just 
above the door of entrance (occupying the entire 
width of the room) was the painting of "The Last 
Supper," Christ and twelve apostles represented life 
size. 

Then there were large paintings, as follows : 
"Rome," "Landing of Columbus," ''The Annuncia- 
tion," "Jewish Captives," and others, with family por- 
traits, and portraits of great men, Washington, Clay^ 
Calhoun, and others ; "The Roman Forum" and "The 
United States Senate." 

Mr. George Cook was the aftist, who spent years, 
in Rome copying from the old masters. His works 
would well bear the criticism of a connoisseur. Mr. 
Cook w^as engaged three summers in painting "The 



A BIOGRAPHY. 85 

Interior of St. Peter's Cathedral." This was, a few 
years before the death of ^Ir. Pratt, presented to the 
University of Georgia. 

In my girlhood days I spent hours in this gallery of 
paintings, inspired by the revelations on canvas, and 
always grateful that there was one man — I've never 
seen his like — who was willing to spend money for 
the fine arts, and make the same accessible to those 
who otherwise might have no opportunity to gratify 
their love for the beautiful. Yes, Daniel Pratt was 
an artist as well as an artisan ; his soul full of music, 
also. In one parlor of his home was a Grand piano; 
in the dther a large music box ; an organ in the 
library, and a sweet-toned hand^organ in the gallery. 
This latter was made to order, and contained cylin- 
ders for seventy tunes, all sacred music. It was Mr. 
Pratt's pleasure on Sunday afternoons to sit down 
before this instrument, and soon the grand old tunes 
of "Dundee," "Alear," "Old Hundred," and others, 
would be heard pealing out their hallowed strains, 
delighting him and other listeners. 

"On Alay 14, 1859, '^^e corner-stone of the Acad- 
emy was laid. Col. John W. A. Sanford, of ]\Iont- 
gomery, was the orator. After the address, which 
was listened to by about two thousand persons, Mr. 
Pratt invited all to a sumptuous dinner, spread in the 
upper room of the gin factory. The room was two 
hundred and fifty feet long, and there were four 
tables, extending nearly the entire length of the room. 
Everybody ate and enjoyed the dinner, and there was 
plenty for all. The occasion passed off pleasantly. 



86 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

to the satisfaction of all." — Copied from ''Southern 
Statesman" of May 21, 1859. 

Mr. Pratt found Prattville a swamp, and left it 
the loveliest village in the State, built mostly of 
brick. Such a man is entitled to rank as a hero ; his 
patient self-reliance amidst trials and difficulties ; his 
courage and perseverance in the pursuit of noble aims 
and purposes, are no less heroic, of their kind, than 
the bravery and devotion of the soldier and the 
sailor, whose duty and whose pride it is heroically 
to defend what such a leader of industry has heroic- 
ally achieved. If this little volume efifeots its object, 
then will the author feel more than compensated. 

The life of Daniel Pratt is full of lessons of self- 
help and self-respect, and every young man may, if 
he will, accomplish for himself a like honorable com- 
petence and a solid reputation. 



DEATH OF Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

{^Froin the Prattville ^, May /j, iStsJ] 

T? OR the first time during the existence of our 
-■- paper, now stretching back into the past through 
more than twenty years, we clothe our cohmms in 
the sable habiliments of mourning. Daniel Pratt, the 
founder and builder of our town, is no longer num- 
bered among the living. He died, after a long, lin- 
gering and painful illness, soon after the break of 
day on Tuesday morning last. 

" But ere the sun, in all his state, 
Illumed the eastern skies, 
He passed through glory's morning gate, 
And walked in paradise." 

Since this unhappy event, Prattville has been in 
mourning. For the past two days our buildings have 
been draped with the sombre ensigns of grief. The 
busy hum of industry was hushed, because the great 
hand that brought them into existence was cold in 
death. All houses of business were closed. The bells 
no longer summoned industrious toilers from labor 
to refreshment, and from refreshment to labor, but 
only tolled in solemn requiem o'er th© honored dead. 
Every heart was oppressed with sadness, and every 
countenance betokened a consciousness that a com- 
mon disaster had befallen us all. A common 2:rief 



SS Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

pervades our entire community. Universal sorrow, 
consequent upon tlie inevitable conviction of a great 
public loss, hangs over our town like some dire pall 
of evil. It is meet and proper that it should be so. 
Mr. Pratt was not only the founder, but the constant 
and faithful friend of Prattville, and of all her inter- 
ests. They were dear to his heart ; his labors and 
his life afford the most ample evidence of this. The 
people of our town, of our county and of the State, 
are under strong obligations to him, and it is their 
duty to acknowledge them. There is not an indi- 
vidual here, be he rich or poor, of wdiatever profes- 
sion, whom he has not direc^tly or indirectly benefited. 
It is our duty to remember all this, and cherish a 
grateful sense of the benefits he has conferred upon 
lis. We mourn for the loss of a fellow-citizen, a 
neighbor, a companion, a friend, whose great heart 
w^as the dwelling of all the generous feelings ; whose 
hospitable roof and genial fireside were the abode of 
all the domestic charities and kindly virtues of a true 
Christian home ; and who, having evinced through 
life a reverence and devotion for the Bible and the 
ordinances of religion, found support in the last try- 
ing hour in the hopes and promises of the gospel. A 
great man has passed away from earth. On yester- 
day, as we stood by his open grave, in the family 
cemetery on the lovely plateau of the lofty hills over- 
looking his late beautiful residence, and listened to 
the mournful strains of vocal music falling from the 
lips of his neighbors and friends as they sung that 
beautiful, but sadly sacred, poem, commencing. 



EULOGIES. 89 

*'Thoii art gone to the grave, but we will not deplore 
thee," the thought was incapable of repression that a 
far-shining light was extinguished and a strong 
column had fallen, and that we, who had been guided 
by that light and had leaned upon that column, were 
left to walk by fainter rays, and to rest upon feebler 
supports. In the freshness of our grief, it is more 
appropriate that we should mourn than eulogize our 
departed friend. The many virtues and moral ex- 
cellencies of Mr. Pratt are as familiar to our entire 
community as "household words." It is needless that 
we, in this brief notice of our common bereavement, 
should unfold the treasures of his beneficence and 
greatness, or should attempt to set forth his eminent 
claims as a patriot, a philanthropist, a Christian. All 
our readers know them well. To suppose them igno- 
rant of them is to suppose them ignorant of the his- 
tory of our towm, where they are written in lines 
bright as 'the belt of Orion. 

In the general bereavement, ours is a particular 
loss, for he belonged to us. It is now thirty-five years 
since he purchased the site of our town, then almost 
a wilderness — the fit habitation for the owl and the 
bat — and laid the foundation of our present prosper- 
ous and happy community. 

He was born in Temple. X. H., on the 20th day 
of July, 1799. His father's name was Edward Pratt, 
who was the son of Daniel Pratt, of ^Massachusetts. 
Our late distinguished fellov^-citizen. Daniel Pratt, 
at the age of sixteen, apprenticed himself as a car- 
penter, and in 1819, at the expiration of his appren- 



90 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

ticeship, came to Savannah, Ga., to reside. In July, 
1 82 1, he left Savannah and went to Milledgeville. 
In the vicinity of the latter town and Macon, Ga., he 
carried on his trade until 1831, when he removed 
to Clinton, Ga., where he was engaged with Samuel 
GriswOld in the manufacture of cotton gins until 
1833. During that year he settled at Autauga county, 
Ala. He employed his remarkable energies for some 
time a;t McNeil's Mills, three miles below Prattville, 
on Autauga creek, in manufacturing cotton gins. He 
desired and endeavored to purchase the lands em- 
bracing said mills, as a suitable field for the expendi- 
ture of his wonderful enterprise and genius ; but his 
efforts in this direction proving futile, he purchased, 
in 1838, of Jo'seph May (who many years ago died 
in the State of Mississippi) a large body of land, 
including the site of the present town of Prattville, 
and began at once, with extraordinary zeal and en- 
ergy, the building of a town. His untiring energies 
and indomitable industry had no parallel in this 
country. 

It is unnecessary for us to recount the results of 
his extraordinary labors about Prattville. We have 
but to walk out into her streets and say ecce, and the 
whole field of panegyric is covered. His fame needs 
no monument to proclaim to coming generations his 
wonderful works and munificent benefactions. His 
monumental piles are here in great profusion. Look 
around you, and behold magnificent buildings, noble 
structures of art and genius, looming up in every 
direction, which will attest his remarkable enterprise 



EULOGIES. 91 

and liberality long after we shall have passed away 
"like the dust from the summer threshing floor." He 
was a fast friend of the arts and sciences, and an 
active patron of the church. A few years ago he do- 
nated to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of 
which he was a faithful and devoted member, that 
magnificent building in our town embracing the 
Methodist Church, Sabbath-school room above, and 
store rooms and offices below, costing many thou- 
sands of dollars. This munificent charity was in- 
tended as a contribution for the support of the pas- 
torate of said church in the future. 

We have not the time or space to recount the nu- 
merous contributions and lavish charities of the dis- 
tinguished dead. The theme is prolific. We resign 
to an abler pen the pleasant task of a more extended 
biography. How truly does the old maxim apply to 
him, "Vita brevis est; cursiis gloricc seinpitiirnus," 
and does not his long and useful life, full of good 
works and charities, assure us of his participation in 
the gracious promise, ''He that liveth and believeth 
in me shall never die"? But he has gone from 
amongst us, and we would turn in cheerful Christian 
faith from the gloomy aspect of this great bereave- 
ment to the hopes inspired by his Christian triumphs, 
which attended the close of his earthly career. He 
died at peace with heaven and earth. The religion 
of Jesus, to which he was so ardently devoted in life, 
pillowed his dying head. Nearly four years since he 
had rounded the full measure of threescore years and 
ten. The record of his lone- life's services to his 



92 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

country had been made up. His work was finished. 
He enjoyed the full fruition of that eastern benedic- 
tion, so dear to the heart of man, "Alay you die 
among your kindred." This blessing was given unto 
him. He died as the heart hopes to die. He died 
in his own home, amid those scenes of natural beauty 
endeared to him by the joys and sorrows of many 
eventful years, and with the faces of family, kindred 
and friends around his bed. And thus this good man 
departed, surrounded by all "that which should ac- 
company old age, as honor, love, obedience, and 
troops of friends." 

" For him there is no longer any future ; 
His life is bright; bright without spot it was 
And cannot cease to be. No ominous hour 
Knocks at his door with tidings of mishap; 
Far off is he, above desire and fear; 
No more submitted to the chance and change 
Of the unsteady planets. Oh ! 'tis well 
With him." 



THE LATE DANIEL PRATT. 

[From the Montgomery , May 14, 187s.'] 

'np HE announcement of the death of this singularly 
-*' pure and upright man will be received with 
emotions of profound sorrow throughout the entire 
State. For several years past he has been in declining 
health ; but with the indomitable will which was one 
of his characteristics, he continued to transact an 
amount of business under which many of younger 
years would have given way. His last illness was 
of about three weeks' duration, and terminated fatally 
at half -past four o'clock yesterday morning. 

Mr. Pratt was born at Temple, N. H., in the year 
1799, and was nearly seventy-four years of age at 
the time of his death. More than forty years ago he 
located at what is now the flourishing town of Pratt- 
ville, but which then contained not a single habitation. 
He soon utilized the fine water power afforded by the 
beautiful stream on which he first fixed his hopes of 
future usefulness to himself, family and State. From 
an humble beginning in the manufacture of cotton 
gins, he soon realized sufficient means to enable him 
to erect one of the most extensive establishments of 
the kind in the United States, and his name in con- 
nection with that special branch of manufacturing 
is known almost wherever cotton is planted and 
raised. He established on the same stream a splendid 



94 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

cotton factory, a woollen factory, and other branches 
of industry. 

He was a man of unbounded liberality. His mu- 
nificent donations were confined to no sect or creed, 
no place or people. It descended upon and blessed 
the needy everywhere within the bounds of its benefi- 
cence. But there was no ostentation in his gifts. 
His right hand knew not what the left did. Had he 
hoarded all the earnings of his long and useful life, 
he would have left behind him an estate worth a 
million, instead of thousands. 

He was a patriot, too, in the highest and widest 
sense of the word. He loved his country for herself 
alone, and noF as latter-day patriots do, for what 
could be made out of her offices of trust and profit. 
He was no office-seeker. Content to fill the sphere in 
which he reigned supreme, the world had no recom- 
pense of reward sufficiently tempting to lure him 
away from the hearts and homes of his family and 
friends. Had those friends commanded his services, 
he would have held them, as he did his purse, at their 
service ; but he soitght no man's vote for the sake 
of a promotion which he neither needed nor coveted. 

A Northern man by birth, he was in life a standing 
refutation of the charge that Northern men are not 
respected at the South. The universal esteem of all 
who knew how was the chief est jewel in the crown 
of honor which formed the pride and ornament of 
his riper years. His death, therefore, is a severe 
blow, not only tO' his family, but to his country. It 
is a great public calamity ; and while we tender his 



EULOGIES. 



95 



family our sympathies in this hour of trial and deep 
gloom, we cannot refrain from extending to each and 
every citizen of Alabama a similar recognition of the 
loss which in this instance we have one and all sus- 
tained. 



EULOGIES 

ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF 
Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

COUNCIL MEETING. 

Council Chamber, May 22, 1873. 

Present : Councilmen J. L. Alexander, W. A. Mor- 
gan, W. L. EHis and G. L. Smith ; also, the In- 
tendant-elect, Merrill E. Pratt. 

On motion of W. A. Morgan, J. L. Alexander was 
called to the chair. Mr. Alexander introduced Mr. 
Pratt, who took and subscribed to the oath of office, 
and was duly installed as Intendant. 

The minutes of the special meeting of May 17, 
1873, were read and adopted. G. L. Smith, from 
the special committee appointed to prepare resolu- 
tions in reference to the death of our lamented chief 
officer, Daniel Pratt, reported the following preamble 
and resolutions, which were read : 

''Whereas, Through the dispensation of an all-wise 
Providence, we have been called to mourn the loss 
of our beloved, most excellent and venerable Inten- 
dant, Daniel Pratt — the founder, builder, and de- 
voted friend of our town — who has ever been to us, 
and all the inhabitants of our now sad and bereaved 
community, the synonym of all that is great and good 



EULOGIES. 97 

In man, and around whom, for many long years, our 
people have delighted to gather and listen to, and 
imbibe his words of patriotic wisdom and his sage 
and most excellent counsel, and on wdiose staff we 
have all been accustomed to lean, and by the light of 
whose extraordinary wisdom we have long been 
safely and surely guided — to whom universal senti- 
ment unhesitatingly accorded the place of the head 
of our peaceful and prosperous town, and the fore- 
most man of our county. In a feeble attempt to give 
expression to our deep sorrow under this great be- 
reavement, therefore, be it — 

^'Resolved, That while we submit with all humility, 
and bow our heads with Christian resignation to this 
afflicting dispensation of him who cannot err, yet we 
cannot exclude from our hearts the bitter pangs of 
poignant grief that our brightest ornament is taken 
away ; that our great founder and extraordinary ex- 
emplar, who so wonderfully illustrated and embodied 
in his remarkable character all the noble virtues and 
the moral excellencies of an efficient officer — a lib- 
eral, enterprising and public-spirited citizen and a 
wise patriot — is cold in death ; and that our greatest, 
best and noblest friend will never walk our streets 
again, nor mingle wath us, nor preside over our de- 
liberations. 

"Resolved, That wdiile we deplore the depressing 
conviction that the great light and glory of our town 
has departed from our sight forever, yet we rejoice 
that he lived to accomplish all that a great patriot, a 
devout Christian, a noble philanthropist, and a most 
7 



98 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

distinguished citizen and man could do to benefit his 
town, his country and his race ; and especially, as his 
crowning ^excellence, that he did not omit that higher 
function of turning their hearts and thoughts from 
the alluring engagements and engrossing cares of this 
transitory life to a higher land more enduring state 
of existence beyond the grave ; and that, having fully 
completed the record of a long and glorious life, full 
of usefulness and good works ; having transmitted 
to lasting fame, as a legacy for posterity, the long list 
of his benefactions and charities, and having, nearly 
four years since, rounded the full measure of three- 
score years and ten, he died, as the great and good 
man would ask to die, at home, surrounded by fond 
and devoted kindred and friends, and in the bosom 
of the town which he had founded and built, and to 
whose prosperity (and happiness he had ardently de- 
voted the best years of his long and useful life, and 
pillowing his dying head upon the hopes and promises 
of that religion which had long been the solace of his 
devout heart. 

''Resolved, That in the future we will profit by the 
good examples he has given us, and the grave lessons 
which his life, character and death have taught us ; 
and having ever before us the noble example -of our 
departed associate, we will take courage and go on, 
with new faith and renewed zeal, in the pathway of 
usefulness and good works which his worthy example 
has marked out for our feet. 

''Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon 
the minutes of the Council, and that an attested copy 



EULOGIES. 



99 



of the same be transmitted by the Secretary to the 
bereaved family of our beloved Intendant, with the 
assurance of our heartfelt and respectful sympathy 
in their irreparable loss ; and that a copy of the same 
be furnished to the Autauga Citizen for publication. 

'"Geo. L. Smith, 
"]. L. Alexander, 
''Coinuiittee on Resolutions." 

On motion of W. L. Ellis, the resolutions were 
unanimously adopted. 

The following resolution was offered by Mr. J. L. 
Alexander : 

"Resolved, That a committee of two be appointed 
by the Intendant for the purpose of making the neces- 
sary preliminary arrangements for the holding of a 
public meeting of the citizens of Prattville and 
vicinity, at a time and place to be designated by the 
committee, at which meeting eulogies will be pro- 
nounced upon the life and character of the Hon. 
Daniel. Pratt." 

Said resolution was unanimously adopted, and 
J. L. Alexander and W. L. Ellis were appointed said 
committee. 

On motion, the Council then adjourned. 

M. E. Pratt, Intendant. 

Geo. L. Smith, Secretary. 



LofC. 



100 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 



TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. 

Pursuant to published notice, the citizens of Pratt- 
ville and vicinity assembled in the Methodist Church,, 
in this place, at ten o'clock on Tuesday, the 12th of 
June. 

On motion of Colonel L. Spigner, Rev. E. S. Smith 
was called to the chair. In a few remarks, the Chair- 
man stated that we had assembled to pay public 
tribute to the memory of our late friend and fellow- 
citizen, the Hon. Daniel Pratt, deceased. In the death 
of Air. Pratt, our country has lost one of her most 
enterprising, public-spirited men, humanity a bene- 
factor, and the church one of her brightest ornaments. 
Such manifestations of public esteem were perfectly 
fit and proper, and no place more suitable for such 
than in a church built by the liberality and conse- 
crated by the many prayers of the deceased. 

At the close of the Chairman's remarks, prayer was. 
ofifered by Rev. James K. Hazen. 

On motion of Col. William H. Northington, J. W. 
Matthews was requested to act as Secretary of the 
meeting. 

After appropriate music by the choir, the Chairman 
announced the meeting organized and ready for busi- 
ness. 

In behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, CoL. 
T. W. Sadler presented and read the following pre- 
amble and resolutions, pending the adoption of which 
eulogies on the life and character of the deceased 



EULOGIES. lor 

were pronounced by Col. H. J. Livingston, Mac. A. 
Smith, Esq., Hon. C. S. G. Doster, Jesse H. Booth 
and W. H. Northington, Esqs. : 

"Whereas, Death has invaded our county, and 
taken from the walks of life our late and honored 
fellow-citizen, Daniel Pratt ; and whereas, by this 
afflictive dispensation of a mysterious Providence, our 
county has been deprived of one of its most useful 
and public-spirited citizens, the community in which 
he lived its head, and one who looked with parental 
solicitude upon every effort of honest industry — the- 
church of its chief support and brightest ornament,, 
and the poor and distressed everywhere of their most 
generous benefactor; and whereas it is meet and 
right that, while we mingle together our sorrows, we 
should seek to honor his life by imitating his example 
and perpetuating the memory of his noble deeds; 
therefore, be it — 

"Resolved, That we recognize in this most painful 
visitation of the angel of death the work of him who 
is too wise to err and too good to do wrong; that 
while we feel and deplore the irreparable loss we have 
sustained, we bow with thankfulness for the gift of 
that life, so replete with blessings, so rich in good 
works, and so abounding in lessons of truth and 
virtue. 

"Resolved, That in reviewing his long and useful 
life, we find the key to the mystery of his remarkable 
success in everything which his hands found to do, 
to have been his unwavering devotion to principle,. 



I02 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

always condemning what he beheved to be wrong, 
and approving and sustaining what was right. His 
position, therefore, whether with reference to public 
policy or private interest, was never doubtful. To 
"be capable of discovering truth and detecting error, 
was to be capable of defining, under all circumstances 
and upon all questions, the position of the lamented 
dead. 

''Resolved, That in his death the country has lost 
one of its purest and most earnest patriots, virtue its 
surest patron, the world one of its most generous 
benefactors ; one, the works of whose hands were 
abundantly blessed, and the measure of whose days 
was filled with usefulness — one who, in all good 
works, was a pattern of excellence and a model 
worthy of all imitation. 

"Resolved, That while we mourn his loss, we bow 
w^ith resignation to the divine will in this sad bereave- 
ment, and will seek to imitate the virtues so beauti- 
fully demonstrated in his blameless life. 

''Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be fur- 
nished the editors of the Autauga and Montgomery 
papers for publication." 

The resolutions were then adopted. On motion of 
Col. William H. Northington, the meeting adjourned. 
Rev. E. S. Smith, Chainnan. 
J. W. Matthews, Secretary, 



EULOGIES. 103, 



EULOGY BY H. J. LIVINGSTON. 

Mr. Chairman : Pending the adoption of the reso- 
lutions just offered by Colonel Sadler, I propose some 
remarks in humble tribute to the memory of our de- 
parted fellow-citizen, the Hon. Daniel Pratt, who 
quietly folded his arms in death on the morning of 
May 13, 1873, and his enfranchised spirit took its 
everlasting flight to the bosom of its God. In this 
hour of public gloom, while the "footprints" of the 
illustrious dead are yet fresh upon ''the sands of 
time," it is meet that we should assemble here to do 
honor to his many virtues and commemorate his 
noble deeds — to trace the characteristic features of 
his exemplary life, and place them upon the historic 
page for the guidance of other generations. 

It has been observed by a poet of renown that "the 
proper study of mankind is man/' The biographical 
history of Mr. Pratt affords a volume for study and 
investigation more profitable to the youth of our time 
rhan the brightest scintillations from the pen of 
genius. Many have become eminent for their learn- 
ing, and emblazoned their names high in the literary 
firmament of the world; but, as is true of Voltaire, 
Hume, Byron, and Bulwer, there has not appeared in 
their moral character any evidence of a conservative 
principle of intelligence adequate to the exigencies 
of man's frailty and moral depravity. The essence of 
genuine greatness consists in goodness. To whatever 



104 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

heights genius may soar, all efforts are vain unless 
the world is benefited thereby ; for — 

" Taknts angel bright, if wanting worth, 
Are shining instruments in false ambition's hand 
To finish faults illustrious, and give infamy renown." 

In the broad fields of literature and science these may 
play a conspicuous part ; but, in looking out upon the 
great interests of time, and those which lie beyond its 
mysterious confines, we are signaled from afar by 
the blight and mildew arising from their pernicious 
teachings. In the hands of Justice, the scales are 
poised, and men must be weighed according to their 
deeds and moral excellencies. It is, nevertheless, 
true that men who are in immediate contact with the 
living world rarely ever receive impartial criticism 
of their acts and works. Man is liable to misconcep- 
tion in his time, both to his undue disparagement and 
imdue elevation ; but when "Death draws the drapery 
of her couch around him" — when the feelings and 
passions of his day have subsided — then the histo- 
rian can record his genuine worth and noble triumphs. 
We see him, then, through his mighty deeds left 
behind. As the islands of the azure sea are but 
built-up casements of myriads of departed lives, and 
the earth itself one vast catacomb, so we, who live 
and move upon its surface, inherit the productions 
and enjoy the fruits of those who have already jour- 
neyed to the silent city of the dead. They have be- 
queathed us by far the larger and richer portion of 
all that influences our thoughts and feelings, or min- 



EULOGIES. 



105 



gles with the circumstances of our daily hfe. We 
walk the streets they laid off, live in the houses they 
built, worship in the temples they erected, and enjoy 
the towns and cities they founded. We practice the 
•customs they established, and gather wisdom from 
the books they have written ; we pluck the ripe clus- 
ters of their experience, and revel in the glory of 
their brilliant achievements. Every noble work and 
generous deed, every word of comfort and expression 
of sympathy, comes back to us through the dim aisles 
of the past, and is attuned anew upon the tender 
strings of "memory's golden lyre." 

We feel this the more impressively upon entering 
the customary place of one recently departed, and 
"behold on every side the accomplishment of his handi- 
work. Here we are assembled to-day in this beau- 
tiful temple, dedicated to God and his holy service; 
but zi'hy these sombre habiliments of mourning — 
these sad faces and tear-gemmed eyes on every side ? 
Alas ! the z'acauf seat before me tells- its own sad 
-story: Daniel Pratt, the founder of Prattville. the 
patron of labor, the friend of humanity, the exemplar 
of virtue, the synonym of honor, and the embodiment 
of Christianity, is no more ! 

His life is an open book, filled with genuine ex- 
cellencies—on every page of which instructive les- 
sons are given to the living millions of to-day. Let 
us turn over its leaves and examine the volume care- 
fully, that perchance we may gather the mellow fruits 
of his labors, not for ourselves alone, but for the use 
of generations vcf unborn. 



io6 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

The lamented deceased, Daniel Pratt, was born in 
Temple, N. H., July 20, 1799. He was the son of 
Edward Pratt and Asenath, daughter of Ebenezer 
Flint, of Wilton, N. H. From a scene before us, we 
behold the house in which Daniel Pratt was born,, 
representing one of those quaint, comfortable man- 
sions of the old New England style. It requires no 
scrutiny to discern it but an humble roof, the home 
of an "honest yeoman"; yet the broad fields of wav- 
ing grain in front denote "New England thrift," 
while in the rear of the ancient domicile rise the 
cloud-capped summits of granite hills, presenting a 
lovely picture to the artist's eye. And to this day 
that venerable mansion of almost a hundred years is 
still preserved in its simple proportions — the heri- 
tage of a worthy family. This is also the native place 
of our honored fellow-citizen, Merrill E. Pratt, upon 
whose shoulders, we trust, the mantle of the illus- 
trious deceased has fallen. 

The limited pecuniary circumstances of Mr. Pratt's 
parents rendered it impossible for them to give their 
son collegiate advantages ; indeed, his entire school 
education was embraced within the short period of 
nine months, broken by intervals of the planting and 
garnering seasons. Happily endowed by nature with 
a mind remarkable rather for vigor than brilliancy, 
he utilized his meagre store of learning to the best 
advantage, thereby securing a firm foundation for 
future success. A willing son of toil, and inspired 
with a spirit of determination, at the age of sixteen 
years he went forth alone from the paternal roof to 



EULOGIES. 107 

carve out his own fortunes, and apprenticed himself 
to learn the carpenter's trade. Perceiving a more 
extensive and profitable field of labor in the. South 
for the development of his energies, he removed from 
the New England States, at the expiration of his 
apprenticeship, in the year 18 19. Upon arriving at 
Savannah, Ga., he had but tzi'cvify-fiz'c dollars and his 
chest of tools. What a pittance on which to begin 
the great battle of life! How many youth of our 
country would have paused ''upon the brink," and 
finally fallen in the slough of despair! But not so 
with our moral hero; arousing his energies for the 
emergency, he began work with determined vim, ex- 
emplifying the injunction, "Whatsoever thy hand 
findeth to do, do if with all thy might." After the 
expiration of two years, in. 1821, he left Savannah, 
inoving into the interior of the State, with his finan- 
cial position much improved. In the vicinities of 
Macon and Milledgeville he conducted his trade until 
183 1, when he moved to Clinton, Ga., and took charge 
of the cotton gin manufactory of Mr. Samuel Gris- 
wold, at that period the most extensive cotton gin 
factory of the country. He superintended this estab- 
lishment one year, under contract, for five hundred 
dollars; after which time he became interested as a 
partner in business until 1833. It was during his 
sojourn in Macon, Ga., that he formed the acquaint- 
ance of Miss Esther Ticknor, who subsequently be- 
came the companion of his bosom, the sharer of his 
toils, his fortune, and his fan\e. From Clinton he re- 
moved to Autauga county, Ala., with a few unfin- 



To8 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

ished gins, making a temporary abode near Elmore's 
Mills, in the eastern section of the county. During 
the same year (1833) he leased jMeXeill's Mill (now 
Montgomery's), on the rippling waters of Autauga 
creek, one mile from its entrance into the Alabama 
river ; here he remained toiling, under a lease of five 
years. 

The fertility of our soil and salubrity of the climate 
had already induced a tide of emigration hither, and 
Alabama, at this juncture, had begun to be peopled by 
planters from the old States. The staple production 
of the country being cotton, the demand for cotton 
gins increased with great rapidity, and consequently 
Air. Pratt began to manufacture them on a still 
more extensive scale. Already, at this early date,, 
were his gins receiving special attention, noted alike 
for superior excellence and durability. Mr. Pratt had 
thereby established for himself a reputation which 
soon extended throughout the Southwestern States. 
At the expiration of five years, however, he was un- 
able to negotiate another lease of Mr. McNeill's mill,, 
and consequently, from motives and circumstances 
known only to himself, we perceive him ready to 
abandon his noble work and return to his New Eng- 
land home — the first and only exhibition of discour- 
agement ever manifested in the numerous intricate 
plans of his business career. To the companion of 
his bosom he revealed his intentions ; but, contrary 
to the yearning promptings for her native hills, Mrs. 
Pratt declined the tempting proposition, and with the 
superior intuitive perception of woman, surveyed at a 



EULOGIES. 109 

glance the broad future expanse, advising Mr. Pratt 
to remain South and perfect his plans for developing 
the manufacturing interests of the country. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Pratt purchased the tract of 
land on which the town of Prattville is situated. At 
that time it was an extensive swamp, with only the 
water privileges of Autauga creek to recommend it. 
To citizens generally it was considered an experi- 
mental and unprofitable investment. The first build- 
ing Mr. Pratt erected was a saw-mill, in 1839 5 then, 
m course of time, a planing mill, flour mill and gin 
factory. So rapid was the increase of Mr. Pratt's 
business that he then found it expedient to establish 
a house in New Orleans, where he erected a building 
which proved to be one of the most convenient busi- 
ness establishments in the city. 

Having been remarkably successful, his fortune by 
this time had rapidly accumulated ; and instead of 
hoarding it up with miserly hands, he exemplified the 
true philanthropist by employing his vast means in 
such a manner as would contribute the greatest 
amount of good to the community in which he lived. 
His attention was specially directed to that species 
of labor which would induce concentration ; fre- 
quently the mechanic, merchant and laborer were re- 
cipients of his bounty, while he ever regarded with 
zealous care the progress of the village he fostered. 
Under the guidance of his indomitable energy, the 
limits of the town were rapidly enlarged ; even 
marshes were rendered tenable, streams changed from 
their natural course, and mountainous hills vielded to 



no Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

his herculean efforts. Soon a tide of emigration 
flowed hither, and anon surrounding towns were ab- 
sorbed in the magic village of Prattville. 

To the poorer classes of the community, Mr. Pratt 
has ever been their greatest benefactor. The inspira- 
tion of this spirit prompted the erection of a cotton 
manufactory in 1846, which has since been exten- 
sively enlarged, and is now one of the best-arranged 
mills in the Southern States, consuming from twelve 
to fifteen hundred bales of cotton annually, and giv- 
ing employment to hundreds of laborers. With the 
accumulation of wealth, an extensive sash, door and 
blind factory was erected ; then, at a later date one 
of the largest, most perfectly constructed gin manu- 
facturing establishments in the entire country, turn- 
ing out annually from twelve to fifteen hundred gins. 
Then, in rapid succession, arose other shops — an ex- 
tensive iron foundry, elegant halls of learning, a com- 
modious Sabbath-school room, and a magnificent 
church (donation of Mr. Pratt's own munificent 
bounty to the Methodist Episcopal denomination) ; 
and all these splendid structures rising from the 
magic touch of the master mechanic, who acknow- 
ledged "no criterion but success." 

Let us take a retrospective glance of days long 
since past, and for a moment consider what Prattville 
was m 1838 — nothing but a dismal swamp, fit habi- 
tation only for the bear and panther — and contrast 
it with this now beautiful village, nestling at the base 
of innumerable hills, where hundreds of homes, with 
happy hearts, toward the blue heavens rise — 



EULOGIES. Ill 

" Where the olive grows green, and the laurels of labor 
Were won in the wild, 'neath our own Southern star," 

Look where you may, on every side; behold the 
productions of this mighty philanthropist, and do 
you wonder, worthy auditors, that we revere the name 
of Pratt ? — when every sound of the anvil, every 
flight of the shuttle, and every revolution of the vast 
wheel of machinery seem to resound eternal praises to 
our great benefactorf 

Ere I close, Mr. Chairman, permit me, as his his- 
torian, to dwell for a few moments upon Mr. Pratt's 
political principles. A Whig of the Henry Clay and 
Daniel Webster school, his patriotism embraced the 
Union, his views were positive and well defined, and, 
knonniig them, he "dared maintain them." Ardent 
in his devotion to the Union of the States, he re- 
mained unwavering in allegiance until Alabama tore 
her star from the national flag in 1861. During the 
memorable presidential campaign of i860, he was an 
earnest supporter of John Bell and Edward Everett. 
In his conversation and speeches he advised modera- 
tion, asserting that the election of Abraham Lincoln 
would not be a justifiable cause for secession — pre- 
dicting that in such a course the country would be 
involved in a gigantic internecine war. The South 
had been injured and insulted; but before entering 
the field of deadly strife, wisdom, prudence and sound 
policy dictated that she should prepare for the zvorst. 
In a speech at Alida Hall, he urged the South to 
"build up her arsenals, her powder manufactories, 
and establish her navies," ere she involved herself in 



112 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

war. The wisdom of his suggestions in i860 was 
estabHshed as prophetic in 1865. Yet, notwithstand- 
ing his violent aversion to war, when Alabama cast 
her lot with the seceding States, he hearkened to her 
voice, and knelt in allegiance at her shrine. The 
infirmities of age rendered active service in the field 
impossible, but his ample means were lavishly offered 
upon the altar of her sacred cause. He expended 
liberal donations in equipping the first company that 
organized in this county (the Prattville Dragoons). 

To the Lost Cause his purse-strings were nez'cr 
closed ; and pardon the seeming egotism when I as- 
sert that to your humble servant he contributed seven- 
teen thousand dollars toward mounting and equipping 
the regiment I had the honor to command. This is 
but one of his many princely donations, for his heart 
and -hand were ever ready to respond to the call of his 
adopted State. 

Though much averse to entering the political arena, 
he nevertheless yielded to the earnest entreaties of 
his friends, and served in the Legislature of i86i-'62 
as representative from Autauga county. While serv- 
ing in that Assembly, his course was distinguished 
alike for prudence and wisdom ; eminently conserva- 
tive in principle, his opinions were universally re- 
ceived as genuine emanations from a patriotic heart. 
In the Democratic State Convention of 1870, he came 
within a few votes of being nominated by that party 
as their candidate for Governor ; and had it not been 
for his extreme age, he would doubtless have re- 
ceived the nomination. Universally honored and be- 



EULOGIES. 113 

loved, he was the pride and model of all who knew 
him well. 

x^n earnest advocate of internal improvement, he 
w^as ever alive to the development of the inexhaustible 
resources of Alabama. Not only the influence of his 
counsel and the treasures arising from a profound 
comprehensive mind, but also the vast accumulated 
wealth of years, has been freely poured into the lap 
of his adopted State. The last crowning effort of his 
eventful life was the successful establishment of the 
Red Mountain Iron Works, thereby opening a mine 
of mineral wealth to the country, the vast propor- 
tions of which were heretofore scarcely conceived. 
Rising superior to the distressed condition of financial 
affairs, Air. Pratt devoted his time, means and energy 
to this stupendous movement ; and ere his eyelids 
closed in the slumber of death, he was permitted to 
see a village of six months' existence assuming grace- 
ful proportions, while from the glowing furnaces of 
Ironton the curling smoke mounted heavenward in 
grateful attestation of his manifold noble services. - 

■" All honor to him who has honored his station, 

In the land where his labor its earnest has found — 
Where the works of his hands are the pride of the nation, 
And the Vv^orth of his heart is the hope of mankind." 

May I presume upon your patience, attentive hear- 
ers, in order to make a passing comment upon Mr. 
Pratt's Christian virtues? — only for a moment, ]\Ir. 
Chairman — then entrust the pleasing subject to his 
able biographer who succeeds me? A worthy exem- 



114 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

plar of that charity which "vaiinteth not itself," his 
left hand remained in total ignorance of the bounties 
his right bestowed. The widow's wail and the 
orphan's cry ever met a responsive echo in his heart. 
Born and reared in poverty, he well knew how to 
appreciate the wants of the needy. Strangers he 
clothed and fed, and to the sick he administered com- 
fort. Not restricted by limits of sectarian propriety,, 
he considered the poor of every creed, and bestowed 
his charities with a lavish hand. 

*' As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake, 
The center moved, a circle straight succeeds ; 
Another still, and still another spreads ; 
Friend, parent, neighbor, first it will embrace — 
His country next, and next all human race ; 
Earth smiles around, with boundless bounty blessed, 
And Heaven beholds its image in his breast." 

How fondly we dwell upon the resplendent virtues 
of this great man — great in goodness, and great in 
the love of his countrymen ! Yet Death has stalked 
in our midst "with remorseless tread," despoiling 
labor of her brightest jewel and the country of its 
greatest benefactor. 

Daniel Pratt is no more ; yet no marble shaft need 
rear its head to perpetuate his fame. Every sound of 
the hammer and blast of the forge, every ring of the 
anvil and shove of the plane, every fly of the shuttle 
and turn of the wheel, unite in bearing his illustrious 
name down to posterity. These silent walls and fres- 
coed columns of this magnificent building are mutely 
eloquent in praises to him who has elevated hninanity. 



EULOGIES. 115 

Magnanimous in youth, great in life, and glorious in 
death, he has bequeathed to posterity the inheritance 
of his works, and erected his monument m the hearts 
of his countrymen. 

I now give in charge his name to future genera- 
tions. 

" The historic ]Muse. 
Proud of her treasure, marches with it down 
To latest times ; and Sculpture, in her turn, 
Gives bond, in stone and ever-during brass, 
To guard his fame and immortalize her trust." 



EULOGY BY MAC A. SMITH. 

Mr. President and Bereaved Friends : Plutarch 
tells us that Lysias once composed a speech with 
which a criminal was to defend himself before a tri- 
"bunal of justice. On its first perusal, this poor but 
intelligent criminal pronounced it one of rare merit. 
Its profound logic, the admirable construction of its 
sentences, the stirring pathos of every line, and the 
beauty of its well-rounded periods, he regarded as 
a sure guarantee of his triumphant vindication. On 
3. second perusal, however, it lost a portion of its 
interest. He began to detect here and there, as he 
supposed, defects in the reasoning, and to look for- 
ward with fear and trembling to the ordeal he was 
soon to pass ; but he read it a third time, and what 
think you was the consequence? He threw it aside 
in disgust, and, turning to its immortal composer, 



ii6 HoxN. DANIEL PRATT. 

addressed him thus, "Lysias, O Lysias ! why, why 
have you advised me to risk my fortune, my honor^ 
my happiness, my all, on so miserable a production?" 

Impressed as I am, my friends, with the conviction 
that my remarks on this occasion will not be com- 
mensurate with its important character, yet I trust, 
from its nature and the mournful circumstances 
which surround us as a people, that you will not turn 
from them in disgust, as did the unfortunate criminal 
from the speech prepared by the eloquent Lysias ; for 
if, perchance, I can but feebly enforce a single useful 
lesson taught in the life of the great and good exem- 
plar whose character we are to contemplate to-day,. 
it will be to me a sufficient compensation for the em- 
barrassment consequent to the posi'tion. 

But why this convocation of our citizens? Why 
these evidences of mourning, these symbols of sor- 
row? Why is sadness depicted upon the counte- 
nances of our friends? Why are their hearts bowed 
down and "refuse to be comforted''? Aye, why this, 
weeping of nature? Why does the cypress bend 
lower, the willow droop more sadly, the air vibrate 
with suppressed emotion? WJiat means this voice of 
mourning, coming from valley and hill, from stream- 
lets and riverside, from rural quiet and busy marts — 
this pall of grief that spreads its sable folds over all 
the land? Hark! listen! — a voice speaks with sig- 
nificant intonation ! It is as if it were a sblemn an- 
nouncement from the throne of the King of kings, 
and Lord of lords ! An appropriate answer is con- 
tained in the awful interrogatory of the inspired 



<■ 



EULOGIES. 117 

writer, "Know ye not that a prince and great man 
has fahen in Israel?" Verily, may we say to the 
grim, insatiate monster — 

" Now boast thee, Death ; in thy possession lies 
A man unparalleled !" 

It is highly proper, my afflicted friends, that we 
should assemble at this time — as has been already 
remarked by the reverend Chairman of this meet- 
ing — and engage in profitable contemplation of the 
late untoward dispensation of Providence. Amid the 
first paroxysms of a grief occasioned by such an over- 
whelming calamity, we were ill prepared "to reason 
one with another" with regard to the virtues and 
characteristics of the noble dead founder of our town. 
You demonstrate, by your assemblage here, that it is 
not your desire or inclination to expel from your 
hearts the sad reflections occasioned by the lamentable 
death of the revered patriarch of our community. 

"Sorrow for the dead," says the great Irving, "is 
the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. 
Every other wound we seek to heal, every other afflic- 
tion to forget ; but this wound we consider it a duty 
to keep open — this affliction we cherish and brood 
over in solitude. Xo ; the love which survives the 
tomb is one of the noblest attributes of the souL 
Though it may sometimes throw a passing cloud even 
over the bright hour of gaiety, or spread a deeper 
sadness over the dark hour of gloom, yet who would 
exchange it even for the song of pleasure or the burst 
of revelrv. There is a voice from the tomb sweeter 



ii8 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

than song ; 'there is a recollection of the dead to which 
we turn even from the charms of the living. Oh ! 
the grave, the grave ! it buries every error, covers 
■every defect, extinguishes every resentment." And 
especially is it true of the grave of our lost guardian 
and benefactor, that from its peaceful bosom spring 
none but fond regrets and tender recollections. If 
he died leaving an enemy behind him (which I very 
much doubt, let him go and look down upon his 
^rave, and feel a compunctious throb that ever he 
should have warred with the poor handful of earth 
that lies mouldering before him ! 

My earliest recollection of Air. Pratt dates back 
to the time when I first, as a small child, attended 
the Union Sabbath-school in Prattville. He became 
my immediate Sabbath-school teacher, and as often 
as the holy day would re'turn was I accustomed to 
being drilled by him in questions touching the his- 
torical portions of the Scriptures. By his care, kind- 
ness and solicitude, my heartstrings were made to 
cling closely around the good old man ; and these, I 
may add, were never broken throughout his subse- 
■quent life, but, on the contrary, they rather "grew 
with my growth and strengthened with my strength." 
I trust that I may not be charged with egotism for 
stating, in this connection, that my teacher became 
very much attached to his pupil in return. Of this 
I have sufficient evidence when I remember that he 
reported to my father that my Sabbath recitations 
were perfect, and that, in view of what he supposed 
to be a bright promise of a successful future, he asked 



EULOGIES. 119 

permission to superintend and even bear the expense 
of my subsequent education. This proffered kindness 
was, of course, gratefully declined. But it caused me^ 
however, to at once enthrone my venerable teacher, 
in my boyish mind, as the prince of good men, as a 
benefactOT and philanthropist; and I rejoice to-day 
that I am at last enabled to make even a mean returrt 
in so much, forsooth, as to pronounce but an indiffer- 
ent eulogy upon his hallowed life and character. His 
''life and character," did I say? What are they? Da 
they afford a theme proper for meditation — a sub- 
ject worthy of investigation? Aye, never, never did 
the words of the immortal Bard of Avon more sea- 
sonably occur ! They are — 

" A combination and a form, indeed. 
Where every god did seem to set his seal 
To give the world assurance of a man." 

It is now my purpose to speak more particularly of 
the achievements made by the distinguished deceased 
in the department of art, or of his very marked devo- 
tion to the arts. To other eulogists will be resigned 
the duty of portraying more vividly his successes irL 
other spheres of labor, and illustrations of other char- 
acteristics and idiosyncrasies. The department of art, 
especially the mechanical art, was evidently the fav- 
orite field or element of Mr. Pratt. It was with him,, 
in other words, the ne plus ultra of avocations. In 
it he earliest tested his youthful skill and energies,, 
spent the greater po^rtion of his long and useful life, 
achieved his highest distinction, and amassed his 
largest fortune. 



120 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

As has been remarked by the gentleman who pre- 
ceded me, at the tender age of sixteen he apprenticed 
himself to learn the carpenter's trade. We thus per- 
ceive that at a very early period he enlisted in the 
mechanical art, and laid the foundation of that char- 
acter whose wondrous beauty and perfect symmetry 
we are contemplating to-day with mingled emotions 
-of sadness and admiration. What an example is here 
afforded, what a lesson is here taught to the youth 
of our land ! The avocation which Mr. Pratt selected, 
and his subsequent career in its prosecution, furnish 
a grand and striking illustration of the importance 
and dignity of labor. It is at once a powerful answer 
and complete refutation to all that we sometimes hear 
said in fashionable circles in reference to the pro- 
priety of selecting the so-called "respectable occupa- 
tions." Who, let me inquire, was, while living, more 
respected and honored, and, now that he is dead, is 
more lamented and deplored, than Daniel Pratt? and 
jet he entered upon the grand drama of life as a 
mere carpenter's apprentice ! To use the words of 
one who appreciated the subject, "Toil, either of the 
brain, of the heart, or of the hand, is the only true 
manhood, the only true nobility." And for myself, I 
unhesitatingly say to you, my friends, that there is no 
more respectable man among us than the honest, 
liard-working mechanic ; and I trust that, so long as 
we are mindful of the strong tenure which the hon- 
ored dead had, and still has, upon our regard and 
affections, we will remember that it is not the bare 
occupation which confers respectability, but that — 



EULOGIES. 121 

"Honor and shame from no condition rise; 
Act well your part — there all the honor lies !" 

The good old poet. Burns — who wrote as sweetly 
as the silvery streams of his native heath were wont 
to purl in musical ripples — never penned a truer 
sentiment than the trite quotation : 

'' The rank is but the guinea's stamp ; 
A man's a man for all that." 

Trace our deceased friend from his humble begin- 
ning — when thrown into a heartless and selfish 
world as a poor tyro in the mechanical trade, without 
any of the adventitious circumstances of fortune, or 
a helping hand to sustain him over life's rugged path- 
way — and follow him as he makes his gradual, but 
steady and unfaltering, ascent to the acme of his 
wonderful achievements, or to the zenith of his unex- 
ampled prosperity, and tell me how much is there 
in his splendid career, luminous as it is all along with 
noble deeds, which should evoke the unstinted praises, 
the loudest plaudits, and the warmest admiration of a 
just, generous and virtuous humanity! 

In 1821, Mr. Pratt removed from Savannah (where 
he first located after coming South), and took up 
his abode at Milledgeville, Ga., in and around which 
latter city he followed the business of house-building. 
I am here again constrained to ask pardon for a per- 
sonal reference. While the deceased resided at Mil- 
ledgeville, he erected a dwelling-house for a citizen 
living a short distance in the country, in which it was 
my fortune to board during a part of m5^ collegiate 



122 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

career. At the time, however, I was accustomed to 
taking meals beneath its roof, it did not stand where 
it was originally located by Mr. Pratt ; but my host, 
the gentleman who superintended its removal, in- 
formed me that the workmen who were engaged in 
tearing down and displacing its various timbers fre- 
quently remarked the manifest care and honesty dis- 
played by the original builder in its construction and 
in fastening together its different parts. This fidelity,. 
I may here remark, exhibited at so early a date, in 
the erection Of a rural abode in an agricultural section 
of the State of Georgia, was a distinguishing feature 
of every specimen of his workmanship. Excellence 
in all undertakings was the goal of his ambition. In 
the glorious but bloodless victories which he achieved, 
the shibboleth by which his own energies were ever 
rallied, was the sage motto of Dr. Franklin, ''What 
is worth doing at all is worth doing well." Or, it 
may be said of him that he "made some conscience 
of what he did," as was Crom well's habit in alluding 
to the almost incredible achievements of his invin- 
cible old Ironsides. 

In 1829 or 1830, we are told, Mr. Pratt abandoned 
the scene of his labors about Milledgeville, and lo- 
cated at Clinton in the same State, where, with Mr. 
Samuel Griswold, he engaged in the manufacture of 
cotton gins until his removal to Alabama, which oc- 
curred some time in the year 1831. He first located, 
in this State, in the county of Elmore, near the water 
privilege commonly called Elmore's Mill, where he 
remained only about one year, and manufactured fifty 



EULOGIES. 123 

He then settled in Autauga county, 
leasing the water privilege now known as Mont- 
g-Omery's mill, on Autauga creek, one mile from 
Washington Landing, on the Alabama river, and 
three miles from the present town of Prattville. 
After the expiration of his term of lease, in 1838, 
he purchased the tract of land on which Prattville 
is situated. He commenced at this point by building 
a saw-mill in 1839, then a planing mill, then a flour 
and grist mill, and next a gin factory. In 1846 he 
built a cotton factory, and shortly afterward an iron 
foundry. At a later date he built the sash and blind 
factory. With the history and the operations of all 
these various buildings and manufactories, you are 
all more or less familiar. My purpose in alluding 
to them is to illustrate his devotion to the mechanical 
art, which all who have studied his glorious career 
will admit was the controlling and predominant senti- 
ment of his great heart, as he heroically struggled 
forward in carving out his own way tO' honor, to for- 
tune, and to usefulness. Without these various insti- 
tutions which have sprung up all around us through 
the talismanic influence of Mr. Pratt's wonderful 
genius, let us pause and inquire, where and what 
would be our town? A howling waste or wilder- 
ness — a town without thrift, without enterprise, 
without life, without inhabitant! Could the last ves- 
tige of his works and improvements be swept away 
by the besom of destruction, then how apropos would 
be the apostrophe addressed by Goldsmith to ''Sweet 
Auburn," the ''Deserted Village" : 



124 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

" Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, 
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn : 
Amid thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, 
And desolation saddens all thy green. 
Amid thy desert walks the lapwing flies, 
And tires their echoes with unvaried cries. 
Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, 
And the long grass o'ertops the mould' ring wall ; 
And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand, 
Far, far away, thy children leave the land." 

On ithe other hand, let us for a moment reflect upon 
what this great man has accomplished through art. 
His devotion to art has built a beautiful town in this 
vahey, picturesquely nestled among the hilly watch- 
towers which Nature constructed at the foundation 
of the world ; it has caused the banks of the pellucid 
stream, which majesitically courses on its way through 
the heart of Prattville, to resound with the busy notes 
of the sweet song of a diversified industry ; it has 
made our town no unimporitant locality in the geogra- 
phy of the country, and constituted it at once the 
synonym of a prosperous and happy community ; it 
has done more — it has given employment and sus- 
tenance to hundreds, and I may say thousands, from 
first to last, who otherwise would have been idle, 
destitute and wretched ; it has made us all, either 
directly or indirectly, the debtors or beneficiaries of 
the immortal dead ; and finally, it has made the name 
and fame of Daniel Pratt and his celebrated cotton 
gins as familiar as household words all over the land 
of the orange and cotton bloom, or coextensive with 
the broad limits of our common countrv ! 



EULOGIES. 125 

The silversmiths of Ephesus, who were employed 
in fashioning little shrines, altars, and other symbols, 
which were used in the worship accorded by the 
populace to Diana, would cry out, when approached 
on the subject of their trade, "Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians !'' This was owing to a knowledge, on 
their part, that it was to this divinity they were in- 
debted for their ill-gotten gains, and if the religion 
of the people 'were destroyed, their "occupation," like 
Othello's, would be "gone"; hence they lustily 
shouted, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" Aye, 
my friends, we mourn here to-day the death of one 
who was more real, who was purer, better and nobler 
by far — was more of a boon, a blessing to the world 
and a benefactor to humanity — than all the deities 
that peopled the brains and figure'd in the imagina- 
tions of the besotted inhabitants of the mvtholosfical 
ages ! 

But not alone, respected friends, did our distin- 
guished deceased neighbor exhibit a devotion to the 
mechanical art proper; he also manifested a natural 
or native taste and fondness for the finer art of paint- 
ing. How many of us remember with admiration the 
splendid gallery of paintings once attached to his late 
residence ! Oh ! how often, with a boyish fancy for 
beautiful pictures, would I resort to that pleasant 
retreat, and gaze for hours upon the canvassed scenes 
of past grandeur and greatness ! Upon its richly 
adorned walls might have been seen splendid repre- 
sentations of the "Interior of St. Peter's Church," 
"The Last Supper," "The Citv of Rome," "The 



126 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

Roman Forum," ''The Bay of Naples," "The Annun- 
ciation," "The Landing of Columbus," "The Captives 
of Judah," "Christ and Mary Magdalen in the Gar- 
den," "The Landing of Cleopatra," as well as full and 
half-length portraits of George Washington, Henry 
Clay, John C. Calhoun, Bishop Soule, and other 
celebrities. 

Nor is this all the evidence of this interesting fea- 
ture of his character. About the year 1843, when 
Mr. Pratt visited New Orleans for the purpose of 
securing a suitable depository for his cotton gins in 
that city, he purchased there a lot, and, as soon as 
practicable, had erected thereon a large four-story 
building for the objects of the proposed depository. 
While in the Crescent City, superintending the erec- 
tion of this building, he became acquainted with the 
artist, George Cooke, and, at no inconsiderable outlay 
of money, he appropriated and fitted up the third 
and fourth stories, converting them into one vast 
apartment as a studio for the artist and a gallery of 
paintings, to be embellished with the finest produc- 
tions of artistic genius. At one time it was said to 
have rivaled the most tasteful collection in the coun- 
try. The gallery connected with his Prattville resi- 
dence was erected after the establishment and com- 
pletion of the one in New Orleans ; and to give you 
an idea of the labor and expense attendant upon the 
execution of the fine specimens which were pendent 
from its v^alls, I will state, from rehable authority, 
that Mr. Cooke was sedulously engaged for three suc- 
cessive summers in painting the masterpiece of the 



EULOGIES. 127 

gallery. I, of course, allude to the magnificent view 
of the ''Interior of St. Peter's Church." This splen- 
did copy was afterward presented by the generous- 
hearted patron of the artist to the University of Geor- 
gia, at Athens. These facts from the history of the 
great man who has fallen are cited to show that he 
was, in truth, no casual admirer of the divine art in 
which the old masters, Raphael and Michael Angelo, 
excelled, and that beneath his practical, business-like 
exterior there lurked a well-spring of genuine admira- 
tion of the true and the beautiful. He was em- 
phatically a friend to the artist, and was passionately 
fond of the lovely creations of his brush and easel. 

I would like to speak in detail of the other traits 
of the character of the deceased ; but I fear that I 
have too long encroached upon the time of the elo- 
quent gentlemen who are to follow me. The great 
and good man, with years and honors "clustering 
thick upon him," was certainly distinguished for 
many noble and ennobling virtues and characteristics. 
I will not contend that he was wholly devoid of de- 
fects and foibles, for these are the common inherit- 
ance of erring humanity. "E'en his faults leaned to 
virtue's side" ; or, in other words, his imperfections 
and peccadillos were of such a trivial character that 
they "paled their ineffectual fires," and were com- 
pletely eclipsed by the many noble and shining quali- 
ties with which his useful life was gloriously radiant. 
His philanthropy was of the broadest and most com- 
prehensive nature. Truly may it be said of him that 
he was blessed with that "touch of sympathy which 



128 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

makes the whole world kin." His patriotism was 
of the purest and most fervid type ; no sacrifice or 
effort was considered too great when coming in the 
way which its generous promptings urged him to 
follow. During the late civil revolution, which 
drenched our land in fraternal blood, and resulted in 
the defeat and subjugation of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, he contributed, from first to last, about two 
hundred thousand dollars in the vain endeavor of 
our struggling people to achieve a separate and inde- 
pendent existence ! The deeds of charity and benevo- 
lence which he systematically performed, without 
''letting his right hand know what his left hand did," 
have entitled him to a rank with Howard, Clarkson, 
Fry, Wilberforce, and others. In his intercourse with 
the world, nothing was more observable than his very 
marked independence and individuality of character. 
As a friend of education and the great cause of the 
mental development and improvement of his species, 
he had but few peers, and certainly no superiors, giv- 
ing liberally (as he frequently did) of his bounteous 
means to the establishment and maintenance of the 
literary institutions of the country. As a Christian 
man or religious character, aye ! he was like Job of 
old, "He feared God and eschewed evil" — this beau- 
tiful temple (as before remarked by the respected 
Chairman of this meeting), erected at his own ex- 
pense to the worship of Almighty God, testifying in 
some measure to his devotion to the cause of his Lord 
and Master. 

But why dwell upon the beauties and excellencies 



EULOGIES. 129 

of character which the hfe of this singularly pure 
and upright man so forcibly illustrates? The thought 
is truly harrowing to the heart and mind when we 
reflect that the beloved Xestor and the revered pater 
familias of our town and county has bade us farewell 
forever ! He is to-day indifferent alike to censure 
and to flattery, which the elegist has well said "cannot 
soothe the dull, cold ear of death." What recks he 
for our eulogiums and words of doleful panegyric? 
He is far, far above them all ; he hears, he heeds them 
not. 

'' As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form. 
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 
Tho' round its breast the rolling clouds are spread. 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head !'' 

Yes, it is true, sadly true, that we will never more 
behold the physical form of our lost friend and bene- 
factor, and we shall never again hear the accents of 
truth and wisdom falling from his revered lips ; yet 
I trust, if it were possible, that his disembodied spirit 
may still linger in our community, hovering above 
us as a ministering and guardian angel, to lead and 
direct our little town into ways that will redound to 
the welfare, happiness and prosperity of its people ! 

In conclusion, permit me, Mr. President and sor- 
row-stricken friends, to express the hope that each 
and all of us may practice the great lessons which his 
very exemplary life has taught us. May we inherit 
his wonderful energy and indomitable perseverance. 
May his course and example be, in many other re- 
9 



I30 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

spects, our guide, our pattern and source of frequent 
reference! In this way alone can we render just 
honor to his memory. He has built these noble struc- 
tures and this beautiful town as his own monument. 
*'We, and those who come after us in successive 
generations, are its appointed, its privileged guard- 
ians." Let us preserve it from dilapidation and 
decay. To use the idea and, to some extent, the 
words of a great orator in reference to a monument 
to Washington, let it stand before the world in all 
its original strength and beauty, securing peace, order 
and employment to all within its boundaries, and 
shedding light and hope and joy upon the pathway 
of all its inhabitants — and he needs no other monu- 
ment. Nor does he need even this. This town may 
perish ; star by star its glories may expire ; brick 
by brick this noble sanctuary and those stately manu- 
factories may moulder and crumble ; all Other names 
wdiich adorn its annals may be forgotten — but as 
long as human hearts shall anywhere pant, or human 
tongues shall anywhere plead for human sympathy 
and an exhibition of true greatness of soul, those 
hearts shall enshrine the memory, and those tongues 
shall prolong the fame of the great and noble Daniel 
Pratt ! 

" His name, as passing years shall roll, 
Shall brighter shine on glory's scroll ; 
Old age shall love to tell his fame. 
And youth with reverence speak his name." 



EULOGIES. 131 



EULOGY BY C. S. G. DOSTER. 

Mr. Chairman : I cheerfully second and fully en- 
dorse the resolutions introduced by Colonel Sadler. 
They truthfully express, in language forcible and elo- 
Cjuent, cur feelings consequent upon the common loss 
which now oppresses every heart in our community, 
in the death of our distinguished friend. When I 
look around me to-day over this large and serious 
assemblage, I see, in the gloomy face of every one, a 
cloud of sadness — a settled conviction, forcing itself 
upon all, that the shadows of a great bereavement 
have gathered about every hearthstone in our county. 
We mourn the death of a good citizen, a benefactor, 
a philanthropist, a patriot, and a Christian. It is meet 
and hig'hly proper that the citizens of this town and 
county should gather in earnest, sad, and full con- 
course, in this spacious and beautiful temple, erected 
by his liberality, and consecrated by his tears and 
devotion, to honor and pa}' homage to the memory 
of the noble and generous man, whom in life we have 
delighted to respect and venerate, now that he has 
been gathered forever from the shadowy scenes of 
earth. Respect for ourselves and gratitude for all 
the good works, the charities and many benefactions 
of the noble dead, appeal to us and demand at our 
hands that we do all in our power, and render avail- 
able every opportunity to pay tribute to the memory 
of his great worth and merit. 

Great men are resfarded as amono- the best shifts 



132 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

which Providence bestows upon a people. This, in a 
great degree, is true ; but it is only true of those who 
acquire their title to greatness and win their way up 
the rugged steps of fame by a long series of noble 
deeds and good works. True glory is based upon 
benevolence and benefaction. In the history of the 
human family, men have often risen in the w^orld and 
attained a wide-spread fame, whose reputations are 
coextensive with the countries in which they live — 
yea, whose names have taken the wings of the morn- 
ing and gone to the utmost confines of civilization — 
who had none of the elements and good qualities of 
true greatness. Some have occupied high places in 
fame's proud temple, and have gone down to pos- 
terity wrapt in the mantle of greatness, whose deeds 
fill the bloodiest pages in their country's history. 
Others, more deserving, justly attain to this noble 
distinction through the fruitful harvest of a useful 
life, abounding in good works. Our county, whose 
history is dear to all of us, has, within the present 
century, been visited by and become the scene of some 
of the exploits of two illustrious men, representative 
men of their class, who fully illustrate these diverse 
characters. In 1812, when the aborigines of our 
country, the Creek Indians, owned and occupied our 
territory — then their happy hunting-grounds — 
gamboled in the primeval forests and sported in the 
limpid waters of our beautiful streams, there crossed 
that magnificent stream, the Alabama river, just 
below where now is Washington Ferry, the world- 
renowned warrior, the brave but bloodthirsty Tc- 



EULOGIES. 133 

ciimseh. He came into our county on a mission 
of blood — fired with ambition and an implacable 
hatred, and breathing vengeance and destruction to 
our race. In the noted Indian town of Autauga, near 
the junction of the beautiful creek of that name, 
which flows through Prattville, with the Alabama 
river, and where the town of Washington was sub- 
sequently built, this mighty chief addressed to a large 
concourse of admiring Indians his first great speech 
in his grand campaign and bloody crusade against the 
whites. He came with a calvalcade from the far-ofT 
lakes of the Northwest, to arouse and consolidate the 
divided Indian tribes of the South and West in a 
great war of extermination agcxinst the white inhabi- 
tants of the Union. His was a grand scheme of car- 
nage and destruction. His purpose is graphically 
-written in the bloody history of subsequent wars. 
Read it, my hearers, in a score of gory battle-fields, 
in the battle-scarred plains of the Northwest, in in- 
elTable massacre and carnage, in the scalps and tor- 
ture of a thousand innocent victims, and in the 
charred remains and burning homes of hundreds of 
helpless families. His bloody and ferocious achieve- 
ments gave him a mighty name ; but what a name ! 
His long list of atrocious crimes rise up against him, 
to testify as bloody but 'truthful witnesses at the 
inevitable bar of justice and history. Time passed 
on : the red man, the race of the cruel Tecumseh, dis- 
appeared from our hills and valleys "like frost-work 
before the morning sun." Our race, the race of 
civilization and progress — whose onward march no 



134 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

barrier can impede — came to occupy the lonely hunt- 
ing-grounds of the retiring Indian and to people these 
fruitful valleys. In 1833 — but twenty-one years 
after die bloody, but eloquent and valiant, chief had 
first planted his feet upon our soil, and had swept 
through t'he land in his warlike expedition — there 
came into our county, then sparsely populated and 
wanting in enterprise, anodier, but far nobler adven- 
turer, a native of ifhe granite State of New Hamp- 
shire, burning with the glowing fires of a laudable 
and exalting ambition, a young man of indomitable 
will and indefatigable energy. His was a mission 
of peace, not of war; he came ito build up. not to 
destroy ; his soul was the prolific laboratory of noble 
schemes, and was replete with enterprise, but it was 
in the peaceful pursuits of life. In early life his 
heart abounded with benevo'lent emotions, and his 
eye was fixed wi'th the inspiration of lofty hopes. All 
his aims and aspiration, great as they were, led alone 
in the direction of human happiness, and harmonized 
with the best interests of his fellow-man. He came 
and settled among this people, and shared all their 
fortunes. He was willing to cast his lot with them. 
His sagacious eye soon discovered the great advan- 
tages of our magnificent water-power, and with his 
accustomed energy he made haste to utilize them. 
After spending about one year at Elmore's Mill, then 
in Autaug'a county, laboriously engaged in putting 
together the materials for fifty cotton-gins which he 
had purchased from his former partner, Samuel Gris- 
wold — with whom he had for two vears been asso- 



EULOGIES. 135 

ciated at Clinton, Ga., in the manufacture of cotton- 
gins — and which he had hauled in wagons from 
Clinton to Elmore's Mill, through a wild and danger- 
ous region, inhabited by an Indian tribe whose grow- 
ing unfriendliness threatened actual hosltilities, he 
leased the water-power at McNeill's Mill, on the 
Autauga creek, three miles south of Prattville. Here 
he lived and toiled, with almost unparalleled as- 
siduity, for five years, upon the banks of this beau- 
tiful stream, whose perennial flow of limpid waters 
now laves the base of the lofty hill whose towering 
crest contains all that is mortal of Daniel Pratt, the 
illustrious founder of our town. Thrift and pros- 
perity were the legitimate sequences of his well- 
direc^ted and herculean efforts. He was anxious to 
purchase the lands embracing AIcNeill's Mill — as 
he said to your humble speaker on several occasions — 
because he much admired the locality, and regarded 
it highly eligible as the site of a town. But Provi- 
dence designed it otherwise ; and his efiforts in this 
direction proving unavailing, he purchased from Jo- 
seph May, at a price then regarded exorbitant, the 
site of Pratltville, with a large body of contiguous 
lands. His wonderful enterprise and genius began 
at once their active and untiring work of develop- 
ment and improvement. His extraordinary energy 
and wisely-directed labors at once, as if by the touch 
of a magician's wand, marked a mighty change in 
the wild aspect of everything about him. By dint 
of his indomitable perseverance he soon hewed, out 
of a drearv solitude, the foundations of a town. He 



136 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

went to work tO' conquer, and did gloriously conquer 
all obstacles. His whole history is a verification of 
the truth of that old Latin maxim, "Iiiiprobis labor 
omnia vi licit." He discovered and opened up new 
fields of enterprise. Our then swampy precincts and 
marshy wilderness, the lonely habitude of the croak- 
ing frog, fit only for the hiding-place of the solitary 
owl and bat, he converted into the happy homes of 
many flourishing villagers. But for his genius, his 
enterprise and laudable ambition, the prosperous town 
of Prattville — now the seat of the arts, commerce and 
manufactures, the comfortal^le home of more than 
two thousand thrifty and happy people, the county 
seat of Autauga, and the principal town of the county, 
where ithe hum of industry is ever heard, inspiring 
activity, and schools and churches abound and rejoice 
in successful operation — would not to-day have had 
a place in geography. With a generosity worthy of 
his lofty nature, his beneficent genius opened up new 
occupations for the industrious poor, and encouraged 
a diversity of pursuits. He fostered enterprise with 
a liberal hand, and advocated and promoted the 
growth of dififerent industries. With the commend- 
able spirit of a benefactor, he provided homes for 
the homeless and gave employment to the needy. He 
furnished a large number of persons in necessijtous 
circumstances with well-requited labor for the sub- 
sistence of their families. He fully appreciated the 
rectitude of the maxim that true charity to the poor 
consists, when there is ability to work, in furnishing 
them an abundance of honest and well-paid employ- 



EULOGIES. 137 

ment. In all this he was a benefactor, and the blessed 
fruits of his enlarged benefactions are being grad- 
ually but surely gathered up, "like bread cast upon 
the waters." The rich treasures of his long-continued 
beneficence will never be realized and properly appre- 
ciated until the solemn ush'ering-in of that great day 
inevitable in the impending future as destiny, wdien 
the deeds of men and the records of earth shall all be 
fully disclosed. 

He earlv imbibed the true idea of civilization from 
his hardy ancestors in his native New England. He 
fully understood and harmonized with the correct 
moral idea and social truth that the great civilizers 
and promoters of human happiness are the church 
and school-house. They are the potent instrumen- 
talities and auspicious harbingers of human progress 
and social reform. Wherever they aboimd and flour- 
ish, there you find refinement, happiness and pros- 
perity. Their reign is the benign dispensation of 
light, of joy, and true civilization among the tribes 
of men. Mr. Pratt was the fast friend of education, 
moral and intellectual. He had intense faith in the 
mighty power and efficiency of a blended and co- 
operative education of head and heart. He always 
eschewed an ostentatious display of his charities and 
gifts. The Bible injunction of withholding from the 
left hand a knowledge "of what the right hand 
doeth," was fully observed by him, and never better 
illustrated than in his life. He seemed to desire to 
conceal from the public — yea, even from his intimate 
friends — a true estimate of his manv liberal dona- 



138 Ho.N. DANIEL PRATT. 

tions. But notwithstanding his marked and peculiar 
reticence upon the subject, we know that he bestowed 
thousands of dollars upon different educational insti- 
tutions throughout the country. Many a scholastic 
enterprise, for years past languishing under the op- 
pressive incubus of a want of money, has felt the 
electric touch of his vitalizing liberality. Every such 
enterprise in our community has imbibed the inspira- 
tion of existence in his profuse and life-imputing 
donations. Behold yomder beautiful academic edifice, 
whose lofty spire greets the first rays of the morn- 
ing sun ! There, in those halls consecrated to educa- 
tion, our children gather from year to year, and we 
hope will assemble from generation to generation, in 
the tuition and cultivation of their intellects. His 
munificent liberality duplicated the contributions of 
its other generous builders. There it proudly stands, 
'and will continue to stand, a blessing to all, and a 
fountain of kno'wledge for our children, who must 
soon assume our places ! — a noble monument, ever 
proclaiming, "if aught inanimate e'er speaks," the 
nnmificent liberality and public spirit of our great 
founder. The splendid school-house and church of 
our colored people — so highly appreciated by them, 
their pride and their glory — and the lot on which 
they stand, were a free offering from him to them. 
That race should honor and revere his memory, be- 
cause he was their friend, and did for them many 
acts of charity. Wherever the cause of education, 
religion or humanity was staked, there he rallied with 
a liberal hand and an open purse. He came among 



EULOGIES. 139 

us without any of those adventitious circumstances 
that ordinarily contribute to human success. He 
could boast of no long line of illustrious ancestors. 
No wealthy kindred or powerful friends held up his 
arms and opened the way to easy triumph, in the 
long and rugged course of his arduous labors and 
sore trials. \Mien he came to link his destinies with 
those of our people, he was poor, a stranger, and 
Avidi very limited educational advantages. His hard 
lot in early life confined him to a scholastic training 
of but a few months. Being a Northern man by 
birth, he had sectional and local prejudices (which 
were then strong) operating against him. He was 
independent in action, full of individuality, never tem- 
porized, and ignored and contemned time-serving and 
mere expediency. He arose — bravely and fearlessly 
overcoming all obstacles, despite all opposition — by 
the dint of perseverance and by the main strength 
of his own worth and true merit. In his lofty ascent 
up the rugged mountains of difficuhy to the proud 
heights to which he finall}' attained, he was aided 
and sustained alone, under Providence, by his strong 
and indomitable will, his unconquerable energy, and 
his un^vavering faith, guided by the unfailing light 
of his sagacious genius. 

A few years ago, when responding to a call from 
his neighbors and friends, in relating, at their request, 
incidents connected with the early history of Pratt- 
ville. he stated that when he bought the lands em- 
bracing the site of our town, and began to give shape 
and form to the chaos and wild scenerv around him. 



I40 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

his greatest desire was to see schools and churches 
cstahhshed in the rising village which he was labor- 
ing indefatigably to build. This noble aspiration 
evinced a philanthropic ambition. It demonstrated 
that his heart was /// the right place, and that it 
ajjounded with humanitarian sentiments. His subse- 
quent life, replete with commendable example and 
good works, beautifully harmonized with the noble 
aspirations that formed and gilded the bright dream 
of his earlier years. He lived to realize the full 
fruition of the golden hopes that fired the bosom of 
the early founder. He possessed a far-seeing judg- 
ment, excelled in economy, and was decidedly a 
utilitarian. 

Other speakers, by arrangement, have discussed 
the biography, and have eloquently presented for your 
admiration the devotion of Daniel Pratt to the arts 
and sciences. Upon these highly entertaining sub- 
jects they have fully covered the field of panegyric. 
On this interesting but sad occasion, the Christian 
character of our departed friend, standing forth so 
prominently in his useful hfe, deserves more than a 
passing notice. At an early period of his history, that 
potent and vital truth, which deserves and demands 
constant recognition from the immortal soul, sank 
deeply into his great heart, that — 

" 'Tis not all of life to live, 
Nor all of death to die;" 

that beyond the vale of this fieeting existence there 
surely is a life of immortality. He justly regarded 



EULOGIES. 141 

this life as a state of probation — as a pilgrimage 
from the shadows of this transitory state to a higher, 
better, purer and more enduring life beyond the 
grave. He felt that man's spiritual nature and eter- 
nal interests demand for him a place and a name in 
the church of Christ. He therefore, in 1832, united 
himself with the ^Methodist Episcopal Church. From 
that time, throug'h the long years of his subsequent 
toil — through trials, tribulations, temptations and 
triumphs — he was an earnest, zealous, living, work- 
ing and faithful member of this church, until spirit 
wings, in glorious victory, bore him from the church 
militant here to his more congenial home in the 
church triumphant in heaven. He loved the church, 
1)ecause he regarded it, under Providence, as the 
blessed instrumentality for the salvation of the world. 
He viewed everything sublunary as subordinate and 
always secondary to his religious duties. The world, 
with all its honors, its pleasures and emoluments, he 
held about him as a loose garment, ready at any 
moment to be cast aside at the call of spiritual duty. 
His life was an extraordinary unison and harmonious 
blending of the religious and temporal duties. In 
his remarkable character they seemed to be beau- 
tifully interwoven, and to affectionately intertwine 
about eac'h other. His life fully illustrates how ad- 
mirably the Christian virtues adorn the thorough 
business man, and how greatly they improve and 
elevate him in the faithful discharge of his temporal 
duties. Though for upward of forty years he was a 
member of the ^lethodist Church, yet he possessed 



142 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

no sectarian spirit. He was no religious zealot, no 
intoierant bigot ; no, far from it. He was liberal 
and tolerant in all his religious views. He was the 
friend and well-wisher of all orthodox denominations, 
and he contributed largely in material aid to other 
churches outside of his own. He regarded them all 
as tributary to the great cause of Christ, and as neces- 
sary subdivisions in that grand army of militant hosts, 
ever marching onward, with flying banners and 
shouts of vidtory, to the conquest O'f sin and the 
evangelization of the world. There is a strong pro- 
priety in our meeting here to do honor to the memory 
of this good man. With this place and this grand 
temple, his image is indissolubly associated. How 
suggestive is everything around us of his Christian 
virtues ! Look at this beautiful church edifice, that 
splendid Sabbath school-room, these offices, those 
commodious store-rooms and offices below, this entire 
splendid brick structure — costing him over twenty 
thousand dollars in gold, and the lot embracing the 
same; all this, in the munificence of his hberality, 
he gave to assist in the support of the pastorate of 
the church of wdiich he died a consistent member. 
Evoked by the potent genius of the place, the departed 
hours and the departed man come back again. Here 
we have been accustomed to behold him, walking with 
tottering steps along- these aisles, and occupying his 
wonted seat. Sabbath after Sabbath, as many recur- 
ring years coursed slowly away. But alas ! for us — 
for the church and humanity — he is gone from 
amouQ- lis. The familiar tread of his footfalls will 



EULOGIES. 143 

resound along- these corridors no more forever. We 
shall never again here look upon his venerable form, 
leaning upon his staff. He has here sung his last 
song of praise, and offered his last prayer to his 
adorable Creator. But. faithful to his day and gen- 
eration, 'his works follow him. "He is one of the 
few, the immortal names, who were not born to die." 
He so lived as to leave his footsteps impressed upon 
the sands of time. Here, in this liberal donation, this 
noble benefaction, he has planted upon his grave a 
flower of rare beauty and rich fragrance, which will 
grow, as 3'ear after year circles away, with perennial 
freshness and increasing beauty. Here he has built 
a monument of his Christian devotion and piety, 
wbich should stand long after we shall have passed 
away "like dust from the summer threshing-floor." 
Here he erected and donated a sanctuary, consecrated 
to the cause of our Redeemer, where humble and 
devout Christians can delight to congregate for re- 
ligious worship and to cultivate a devotional spirit, 
through the eventful scenes of long circling vears 
yet to come. Here, we can fondly hope, will the 
faithful heralds of the cross proclaim to the listening 
generations of men yet unborn the eternal truths of 
the gospel of Christ, and inspire in them immortal 
hopes, whose fruits shall ripen in glittering crowns 
in the eternal city of God. Here is established a 
light whose inspiring rays will enter many a darkened 
soul, and will safely guide the feet of the weary wan- 
derers from the shadowy walks of earth, across the 
river of death, to the everlasting foundations and the 
wide-extended gates of the celestial city! 



144 Hux. DANIEL PRATT. 

There is muc'h that is remarkable in the life of the 
noble dead ; but, in its careful consideration, we find 
nothing so wonderful as its completeness. Nearly 
four years ago he had rounded the full measure of 
threescore years and ten. His fortune was made ; 
his great enterprises were completed ; his ambition 
and aims were all fully gratified. The grand scheme 
of founding and building a tovyn, the golden dream 
of his earlier years, was a success. The church and 
school-house, the go'al of the longings of his )'OUthful 
and exuberant heart, had arisen at his magic touch, 
and their flourishing condition caused him to rejoice. 
The Sabbath schools, which eyer secured his earnest 
attention, and which he delighted to foster and assist 
with a helping hand, he saw prospering all around 
him and full of hope. His family and kindred were 
all provided for, his worldly affairs had been com- 
pletely arranged, and he fully and wisely administered 
his own estate; and we are perfectly assured, l)y his 
professions and works, that his spiritual affairs had 
received from him that consideration and attention 
that their transcendent importance demanded. Often, 
of late years, in church social meetings, with his 
brethren in this sanctuary, has he announced his en- 
tire readiness for the great diange. He would state, 
with earnestness and emphasis, that he knew that the 
time of his departure was at hand, that the sands of 
his life had nearly run out, and that he was fully 
resigned to his Master's will. Even in the agonizing 
hours of his last illness, to his anxious pastor he as- 
serted his same unfaltering trust in the promises of a 



EULOGIES. 145 

merciful God, and exhibited the same Christian resig- 
nation that beatified and mellowed the late years of 
his earthly pilgrimage. But he has gone from our 
midst forever. The great light and glory of our 
community has departed from our sight forever. The 
great record of his long and useful life was fully 
made up. His days on earth were fraught with good 
works, full of charities and benefactions. He died, 
full of years and full of honors, with no task unper- 
formed and no duty unfulfilled. When we recall his 
memory, we think of one who had done all in his 
power to benefit our world and to render it lovely 
and happy, without omitting that higher function of 
pointing the way to another. We should regard his 
death not so much the close of one day as the dawn 
of another and a brigliter ; not so much the putting 
off of mortality as the putting on or immortality ; 
not so much a dissolution as a sort of apotheosis. 
\\lien we recall his memory, we seem to behold him 
Avith upturned look and uplifted hand, turning our 
minds and hearts from the engrossing thoughts and 
alluring cares of this transitory life to those unfading 
joys and eternal crowns that gladden the heart and 
encircle the Christian's brow in the beatific realms 
beyond this vale of tears. In the East there is a 
touching benediction — "May you die among your 
kindred !" He realized its full fruition. He died, 
as the heart would yearn to die, at his own beautiful 
and quiet home, with the evergreen water-oak and 
magnolia casting their shadows along the avenue of 
that lonelv home, and o-entlv bendinc; to the In'eath of 



T46 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

the soft vernal zephyrs — surroiinded by fond friends 
and devoted kindred, and supported in the trying 
hours of death by the eternal truths and gracious 
promises of that blessed gospel which, in life and 
health, he loved so well, and which whispers in the 
ear of the dying saint that gracious promise, "He 
that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." Oh ! 
how precious to us is the memory of the venerated 
dead ! For some years past his fragile form and tot- 
tering steps sadly admonished us that our noble 
friend was passing away ; but we could not realize 
how great a loss his death would prove to our entire 
community. The emblems of mourning with which 
our buildings have been draped since the sad event, 
and the sorrowful faces of our people, but feebly 
express the deep grief which now afflicts the public 
heart. We all feel that we have lost a valued friend, 
wdiose place can never be filled. The church now 
mourns one of her brightest ornaments, and society 
a great benefactor. The feeling is irrepressible 
within us that, as a community, we have sustained 
an irreparable loss. We feel that a good and great 
man has passed away from earth, that a far-shining- 
light is extinguished, that a strong column has fallen ; 
and that w^e, who were guided by that light, and who 
have leaned upon that column, are left to walk by 
fainter rays, to rest upon feebler supports. Were it 
not for our Christian faith in that overruling Provi- 
dence whose dread summons has been so often 
sounded in our ears, and who we know "ordereth all 
things well." as he "doeth his pleasure among the 



EULOGIES. 147 

inhabitants of the earth." we might be tempted, in 
this hour of our bereavement, to utter the despondin;^ 
lamentation which the great poet has so touchingly 
expressed in verse : 

" We have fallen upon evil days — 
Star after star decays ; 
The brightest names that shed 
Light o'er the land have fled." 

The lessons of the useful life and character of the 
venerated dead, whom we now mourn, will be a rich 
legacy for our children long after we shall have gone 
to our final account. His noble example, and the 
ainmdant reward of his great efforts, will inspire 
them with new hopes, and invite them to good works 
and virtuous action. He will prove the great exem- 
plar for the honest workingman, the hope of our 
countrv in this day of gloom. The poverty-stricken 
laborer, the humble mechanic, and the useful, toiling 
operative — bowed down with the heavy burdens of 
life, without money or powerful friends, with nothing 
but the brain and muscle that God gave him — look- 
ing to the no1)le example and great success of our 
departed benefactor, will look up from his toils and 
privations, and catdiing a new inspiration, will move 
to the impulse of high aims and lofty expectations. 
AV'ho Avould exchange the life, the good name, and 
the immortal hope of the good man now gone for 
monarchs' crowns or the victor's wreath ? His Chris- 
tian life, death and immortal hopes are enough to 
inspire all with determination to walk with bold and 



148 Hox. DANIEL PRATT. 

unfaltering steps in the noble pathway blazed out by 
the light of his genius, his works and his example. 
Here around you — on the hills, in the valleys, in 
these lofty structures of brick and mortar, in the 
hearts of our people, and everywhere — you wdll find 
his monuments. The world would say that a man 
so useful, so full of good deeds, should never die. 
Though dead, he still lives, and will continue to liv^, 
in his great works and in the hearts of his country- 
men. Let us thank God that he has lived, take cour- 
age, and go on in the path of duty. Let us so w^alk 
and act in life that when we must depart hence we 
may leave behind us that blessed assurance that our 
spirit-feet are gone to traverse those delectable realms 
where nobler struggles shall task the strength and 
more precious crowns shall reward the victory. 

And now, Mr. Cnairman, let me say, in conclu- 
sion, that the good man. Daniel Pratt, having lived a 
life of extraordinary usefulness, went away from 
us, calm, submissive, self-possessed — no duty unful- 
filled, earth's best honors exhausted. 

'*' No cause for sorrow then, but thankfulness; 
Life's business well performed. 
When weary age full willingly 
Resigns itself to sleep. 
In sure and certain hope. 
Oh ! end to be desired, whene'er, as now, 
A life of service passed. 
The seasonable fruit of faith, 
And good report, and good 
Example, have survived." 



EULOGIES. 149 



EULOGY BY JESSE H. BOOTH. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : We 
are not here to trace the progress of a miUtary hero 
through scenes of blood, or to look back upon the 
peaceful triumphs of some champion in the field of 
political strife ; we here pay tribute to more sul)- 
stantial and enduring worth than wreathes the his- 
torical brow of an Alexander, or a Napoleon, or a 
Cromwell. Those were men who have written their 
histories in the blood of their countrymen, while the 
lamented subject of our feeble tribute has written his 
in the sweat of his own brow. We stand at the clos- 
ing scenes of one whose long and useful life was de- 
voted to the amelioration and elevation of those with 
whom he mingled in life. To his genius, energy, 
untiring industry and Christian benevolence are we 
indebted for the prosperity and thrift of our l^eautiful 
town. His eventful life is so fraught with useful 
lessons to the rising generation that he will live in 
the hearts of these people, coexistent with that of 
Arkwright, Stevenson and \Miitney, and the many 
other illustrious mechanics who are the recognized 
benefactors of the human race. 

Our country 'has of late been forced by the insatiate 
archer. Death, to give 'to the cold, cold grave some 
of her greatest and best men ; but none have gone to 
that "bourne from which no traveller returneth" so 
much loved and so deeply identified with our every 



150 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

interest as the parent and founder of our town — he 
whose memory we have here met to commemorate, 
and around which will always cluster the fondest and 
most pleasing recollections, the freshness of which 
will never pale beneath the finger of time. He began 
life without property, and unaided by family influ- 
ence, and with only a limited education. In early 
manhood he bade adieu to family, friends, and to the 
granite hills of his native State, and went forth int3 
the world to work out by his own unaided efforts 
the grand problem of his future existence. He came 
as a pioneer manufacturer to the Sunny South, where 
the breezes from our ©range groves are wafted back 
over beautiful and powerful streams of water, un- 
touched by the hand of genius, energy or enterprise, 
and rich and bounteous mines of most valuable min- 
erals were lying Cjuietly in the beds where nature 
placed them, undiscovered and undeveloped. He 
found these grounds around here an uninhabited mo- 
rass, giving to the traveller no more interesting music 
than the fierce bowlings of the wolf and the mai 
screams of the panther. Here, too, quietly reposed 
in unappreciated forgetfulness the powerful water 
facilities of the beautiful stream after which our 
county takes its name, until the light of his genius 
fell upon them, and changed them, as it were by the 
wand of the magician, into a beautiful and thriftv 
village, that is now adorned with handsome church 
buildings, where our people not only profess, but 
practice, that religion which is the hope that brightens 
their pathway and the staff* on which they lean for 



151 

support across the dark valley and shadow of death, 
to meet undismayed the king of terrors ; and school- 
houses and academies, where the sweet voices of 
many children tell us ignorance is passing away, and 
education, with its benign influences, is rapidly 
spreading over our land ; and here now are our thou- 
sands of spindles and flying shuttles, conducted by 
a happy population, as virtuous, honorable and de- 
serving as inhabits the soil of Alabama. 

It was Daniel Pratt who illustrated and proved 
here that inflexible truth of labor and enerory beins: 
superior to all other human powers which have been 
given to us, inhabiting but for a short time this little 
planet. It was he \\^ho, by making the proper use 
of those means which nature had given him, made 
Prattville the Lowell of our State and the leading 
gin manufactory of the world, and himself a name 
that must and will go, shining brightly, into the 
manufacturing history of our own united America — 
where the sweet music of enterprise and prosperity 
now comes forth upon every wind, from the cold and 
snowy regions of the State of Maine to the turbid 
waters of the Rio Grande. Not only was he great in 
turning a forest into a most prosperous town, but he 
was great as an inventor. Most valuable and bene- 
ficial improvements he has made upon the original 
invention of Whitney, until he has made his name 
and the popularity of his gins a fireside talk through- 
out the cotton regions of the country. And thus he 
has given himself a history that should go side by 
side with our Fulton, whose inventive talent and hard 



152 Hox. DAXIEL PRATT. 

work have spotted the seas and every prominent water 
with mansion-hke steamers ; and our Morse, who has 
obUterated distances, driven out communicative ob- 
structions of oceans, and hnked together all civiliza- 
tions with the means of immediate interviews ; and 
our no less greater Franklin, the American printer, 
philosopher, statesman, author and model of common 
sense — he who answered the sublime interrogatory 
addressed to Job, "Canst thou send forth lightnings, 
that they may go and say unto them, Here we are?" 
Yes, they now come at our command and say, "Here 
we are, ready to do your work." The name of Frank- 
lin — 'he who first opened the way for the subjuga- 
tion of the fire of heaven to the human will — de- 
serves no more praise and commemoration at our 
hands than the name of our great founder and be- 
loved friend. I have been no careless observer of 
men 'who, controlled by events or controllng them, 
have stood prominent among them ; but I say, and 
with a deep conviction of its truth, that I have never 
been brought into contact with a man who possessed 
more native sagacity, higher powers of observation, 
greater probity of purpose, more ardor or firmness 
of resolution, than Daniel Pratt. His self-reliance 
was wonderful ; no misfortune or extraordinary 
event ever clothed his brow with shadows of gloom. 
I have seen him, and been intimately associated with 
him, when the sun of prosperity seemed to be about 
forever eclipsed against him, and the labors of his 
life given up at the altar of mad revolution. It was 
then our great government, mourning and weeping 



EULOGIES. 153 

over the loss of the thousands upon thousands of our 
best and most gallant men, threatened severely and 
sweepingly to punish the leading property-holders 
of her recklessly erring sons ; but even then, when 
all were wailing and quailing before the immense 
clo'uds that were gathering around them, he would 
walk onward in the fields of labor with the firmness 
and daringness of one clothed alone in garments of 
puritv and greatness. It was then, when heaviness of 
heart weighed down the bosoms of all who had trav- 
elled in the roads of luxurious ease, and fiery light- 
nings and gloomv forebodings surrounded the doors 
of those who formerly could boast of their huge 
diests of gold, that his most striking trait of self- 
reliance and ever-earnest efi:'orts was most strikingly 
and plainly exhibited. It was then he became the 
soul, the animating principle of our people, cheering 
their drooping spirits, reinspiring their confidence in 
the never-failing success of labor, and nerved and 
cheered them onward to more vigorous efforts in the 
broad and useful fields of internal improvements. It 
was then that he took largely from his own pocket, 
and sent it forth in favor of the enterprises of our 
town and the happiness and welfare of our energetic 
and Christian people. Not, like Xero, did he ''fiddle 
while Rome burned" ; but when his own career of 
usefulness seemed to be about ended, and the belief 
that the roads to prosperity were blockaded was so 
prevalent, he then, by his vigorous actions, like one 
of England's bravest warriors, attracted united and 
enthusiastic attention to his feather of determination. 



154 Hox. DAXIEL PX\TT. 

He was, indeed, an extraordinary man. When ques- 
tions presented obstacles, he counselled and thought 
deeply ; when his own convictions were clear, he 
seldom referred to the views of others ; and never 
was he influenced or controlled by the clamors of 
foolish and idiotic public opinion. Shallow philoso- 
phers, deluded patriots, and erring statesmen had no 
sway or influence over his actions; but when once 
decided upon his plan of action, he moved forward 
as bravely and thoughtfully as did C?esar in crossing 
the Rubicon. He was emphatically and truly a man 
wit'h a powerful mind, and of stern resolve and posi- 
tive will. He had the gallant courage, both moral 
and pihysical, to dare and to do whatever he thought 
proper and necessary to the successful issues of the 
dictates of his deep mind. He was withal a good 
citizen, cheerfully obedient to the laws of his country, 
and ever devoted to the honor, dignity and glory of 
the people — and especially to those people who earn 
their living by honest toil, and who, now rising above 
the embarrassments of the past, will ere long, like the 
favored children of Israel, be recognized the favorite, 
most powerful and highly respected part of our entire 
population. He had the faculty of persuading him- 
self that whatever measure or course of policy he 
resolved upon and strongly desired to accomplish was 
proper and necessary for the public welfare. As a 
friend, he sustained and supported those who, Uy 
honest labor and self-effort, embedded themselves 
within his affections, with an ardor and zeal inclosed 
and strenofthened by the misfortunes, embarrassmenis 



EULOGIES. 155 

or clangers of the occasion. He left to others those 
formal details which friendship imposes, and reserved 
to himself the more trying, and therefore the more 
honorable, position of sustaining his friends when 
dangers and adversities gathered thickest around 
them. 

I have seen him when he was clothed with officiil 
powers, and it was then he showed forth 'his finer 
qualities of humanity and comeliness of heart. He 
treated with the greatest politeness, and acted with 
feehngs of compassion toward those who were 
brought before him to receive at his hands an en- 
forcement of the laws. On the first Monday of Sep- 
tember, 1866, he was unanimously elected Intendant 
of Prattville, a position he continued to hold, being 
reelected at each succeeding election, and at eacli 
time without any opposition whatever, until the time 
of his death. During the term of his service in the 
Legislature of the State, I was not in this State; 
but, notwithstanding it was a most unpropitious tinif', 
when hunger, want and starvation flapped their 
alarming wings around the doors of many of the 
people, and the ship of State was being tossed amid 
the darkening waves of the great cyclone of war, 
he is said to have sustained the cause in whose in- 
terest he was then acting with great assiduity, yet an 
affable demeanor distinguished his conduct with his 
friends and brother legislators. High up in the list 
of legislators and the prominent men of this country 
Avould his name now stand ; but the country passed 
through her most stormy political seas at a time when 



156 Hon. DAXIEL PRATT. 

the people, blinded by the dust of delusive clouds, 
saw not the statesmanship and truth of his policy, 
expressions and views. He opposed the rash policy 
of adding another illustration and example of the 
fallacy of Napoleon's rash march upon Moscow ; he 
did not believe, as some did, that Southern chivalry 
was superior to any other, and the South was going- 
to meet a timid foe. But, coming himself from the 
industrious regions of the mighty, freedom-loving- 
North, he well knew than her sons none were braver 
or more loyal to the flag of their fathers. He de- 
nounced and most strc^ngly opposed the policy of 
those who seemed only to deserve the reputation of a 
]*rutus in the assassination of Caesar, or of him who 
Inirned down the Ephesian temple. But could all 
have seen as he saw, and acted as he desired thev 
should act, the thousands of hearthstones that are 
now clothed in mourning would be brightened by the 
smiles of good, brave and daring boys, who have been 
sacrificed on the fields of reckless folly. Froni the 
early days of Troup and Quitman, he called upon 
all to remember and follow the warning advice of 
Washington, and the deep and loyal pleadings of Clay 
and Webster. Now the storms have blown over 
which redden our history, but stain not his record in 
heaven ! 

Tt is true, when the eventful circumstances of i860 
came, he, like others, went with the immediate powers 
around him, and bravely entered into the simoon 
winds of the Sahara-like march. When centuries 
shall have passed over us, bringing with them the 



EULOGIES. 157 

mutations or prosperities that belong to the lapse of 
ages, and our country vet be fulfilling her magnificent 
destiny, then, in times now shut out from our vision 
by the far-away future, those of remote generations 
who may inhabit these regions will be carried back, 
by associations and feeling recollections, to the early 
history of our town; and, turning aside to his mod- 
est and unostentatious tomb, tbere will meditate upoii 
his eventful history, and recall the example, while 
they bless the name of Daniel Pratt. Ever will they 
be ready to go forth and search out the secjuestered 
spot of his tomb : and there, pouring forth the gush- 
ing tributes of their hearts, they will recall his rare 
gifts of deep insig'ht, keep discrimination, rapid com- 
bination, plain, direct and convincing actions. His 
was no negative or unmarked career, no meteor-like 
appearance upon the theatre of afTairs, to blaze and 
dazzle for a moment and then pass away forever ; 
but, both as a good citizen and true Christian, he has 
left his impress upon the country and its prosperities, 
striking and indeli1>le. We cannot fathom that mys- 
terious wisdom that governs the life and death of us 
all. The death of such a man, who none knew but 
to admire, nor named but to praise, furnish us one 
of those serious and impressive lessons which come 
to us in all the walks of life, and appeal to us to so 
live that when our summons comes to join the innu- 
merable caravan which moves to the mysterious 
realm, we should be prepared to go and leave our 
record here as the summons may find it. He has 
passed over the troubled sea of life upon whose bil- 



158 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

lows we are now tossed; and may we not all hope 
that his immortal spirit, now freed from the shackles 
of earth, walks with God, high in tlie realms of bliss '" 
I would be base to the noblest feelings of the human 
heart were I not to cherish, with fond remembrance, 
his name. When my young thoughts first took cog- 
nizance of the fact that I have a country, my eye was 
attracted to his rare successes and grand career. I 
have been taught from childhood to study, admire 
and honor him, even if I had no heartfelt sigh to 
pour out here, if I had no tear for the coffin's lid. I 
should do injustice to the teachings of my life if 1 
did not willingly raise my voice to swell the accents 
of the profoundest public sorrow. Our dear old 
family Bible records the birth, yea, the death of 
Daniel Pratt Booth, my bright and interesting little 
brother — the sad and unexpected news of whose 
death came to me while I was separated from my 
home by the fiery chasm of war. Mr. Pratt, though 
confined to his bed for a number of weeks, suffered 
patiently, submissivelv and hopefully until his death, 
and then he passed away as calmly as one going into 
the repose of sleep. 

" Like shadows thrown softly and 
Sweetly from a passing clond, 
Death fell upon him." 

The entire absence of equivocation or disguise in 
all his acts was his master-key to the popular heart: 
for while the people will forgive the errors of a bold 
and open nature, he sins past forgiveness who dclib- 



EULOGIES. 159 

erately deceives them. We were never in doubt js 
to his opinions and purposes. In all the contests of 
his time, his position on great public questions was 
clear as the sun in a cloudless sky. Our consolation 
is, that he was not taken in the vigor of his marihood, 
but sunk into the grave at the close of a long and 
useful career. Every memorial of such a man will 
possess a meaning and a value to the rising genera- 
tions. His grave will be a hallowed spot. Great 
memories will cluster there ; and all, as they visit it, 
may well exclaim : 

" Such graves are pilgrim shrines — 
The Delphian vales, the Palestines, 
The Meccas of the mind." 

Looking over this building, every object which at- 
tracts my eye admonishes me that a good man and 
great benefactor has departed from among us. He 
is gone. Daniel Pratt — the idol of his friends, the 
ornament of our town — has passed forever from our 
view ; but the memory of his virtues and of his ser- 
vices will be gratefully embalmed in the hearts of his 
countrymen, and generations unborn will be taught 
to lisp, with reverence and enthusiasm, his name. 
While his body is buried in the dust from which it 
came, we might bury by its side the records of our 
country's history, bury the hearts of living millions, 
bury the mountains, the rivers and the lakes, and the 
spreading lands from sea to sea — even then we 
would not bury Daniel Pratt ; for he is in other lands, 
and speaks in other tongues and to other times than 



i6o Hox. DANIEL PRATT. 

•ours. I wish I could do something to add to his 
fame; but he has buih for himself a monument of 
immortality, and left to his friends no task but that 
of soothing their own sorrow for his loss. We pay 
to liim the tribute of our tears ; more we have no 
power to bestow. Patriotism, honor, genius, courage, 
have all strewed their flowers around his name ; and 
well they may, for he was the peer of them all. There 
is a lesson taug^ht no less in the life than in the death 
•of every man — eminently so in the case of one who 
has filled a large space and occupied a distinguished 
position in the thoughts and regard of his fellow- 
men. Particularly instructive at this time is the event 
which w^e now deplore, although the circumstances 
attending his decease are such as are calculated to 
assuage the grief which necessarily ensues. His 
time had fully come ; the threescore and ten, the ordi- 
nary period of human life, had for some years been 
passed. 

" Oh ! think how, to his latest day, 
When Death, just hovering, claims his prey, 

Firm at labor's post he stood ! 
Each call for needful rest repelled — 
With dying hand the rudder held." 

yir. Speaker, in a character so illustrious and beau- 
tiful, it is difficult to select any point for particular 
notice from those which go to make up its whole 
proportions ; but we may now, around his honored 
grave, call to gratefid recollection that invincible 
spirit which no personal sorrow coidd sully and no 
disaster could ever overcome. Be assured, sir, that 



EULOGIES. i6i 

he has, in this regard, left a legacy to the young men 
of our country cf freedom almost as sacred and as 
dear as that liberty of which his life was a blessed 
illustration. 

'"Adieu, a last adieti to thee," Daniel Pratt ! The 
hearts of all thy people are melted because of the 
thought that thou art gone ! Could we have held the 
hand of the insatiate archer, thou hadst not died, but 
then wouldst have tarried with us in the full grandeur 
of thy usefulness and greatness. But we thank our 
Heavenly Father that thou wast given to us, and that 
thou didst survive £0 long! 



EULOGY BY WM. H. NORTHINGTON. 

jNIr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I ap- 
pear before you on this occasion for the purpose of 
performing one of the most melancholy, and yet, in 
some respects, one of the most pleasant duties of my 
life. Paradoxical as such a declaration may at first 
appear, it is nevertheless true. It is melancholy in 
this, that I am called upon to speak of an event whicii 
has saddened the hearts of an entire community ; an 
event which has produced the most profound sorrow 
and regret throughout the entire State; an event 
which has clothed our town in the habiliments of 
mourning for weeks past ; an event which has thrown 
a shade of gloom over the county of his adoption : 
an event which deprived Prattville at once of its 



i62 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

founder and benefactor. It is pleasant in this, that 
it affords me an opportunity of paying a tribute to the 
memory of one of the purest and best men I ever 
knew, and to comment briefly upon a few of his many 
virtues and shining quahties, and present them, not 
only to excite the admiration of devoted friends and 
•acquaintances, but to hold them up as examples emi- 
nently worthy of imitation by the old, the middle-aged 
and the youth of our country. 

I formed the acquaintance of the distinguished de- 
ceased in my early manhood, about twenty-six years 
ago, when he was in the meridian and prime of life ; 
consequently, I have no personal knowledge of his 
early history, and shall, therefore, in the remarks 
which I have the honor to submit on this occasion, 
confine myself chiefly to his characteristics, or the 
leading and prominent features of his character, his 
biography or history having been fully and ably dis- 
cussed by the gentlemen who have preceded me. ^Ir. 
Pratt was endowed by nature with extraordinary 
mental powers, with a strength, depth and clearness 
of mind far above mediocrity, with powers of per- 
ception almost unequalled, and with a judgment that 
was almost unerring. But the mere possession of 
these rare faculties of mind, without other faculties 
or traits of character to give force and direction to 
them, would have been comparativel}' worthless to 
the possessor and to mankind. It would not be unlike 
the possession by the miser of untold treasure, or the 
precious metals or minerals locked up in the bowels 
of the mountains, undeveloped ; but, fortunately for 



EULOGIES. 163 

mankind, and especially so for the State of his adop- 
tion, Mr. Pratt was lavishly supplied by nature with 
traits of character which developed and utilized these 
rich mental endowments. The most prominent and 
striking of these traits were an indomitable will, 
fixedness or tenacity of purpose, coupled with an un- 
bending energy. When any enterprise, either of <i 
public or private character, presented itself to him, 
or was suggested by others, he canvassed thoroughly 
its practicability and utility, and if it met the approval 
of his clear and almost unerring judgment, he had 
only to will its accomplishment and bring to bear 
liis tenacity of purpose and unyielding energy, and 
its consummation became a fixed fact. Difficulties 
and obstacles which to ordinary minds seemed insur- 
mountable, vanished in the presence of this extra- 
ordinary combination of powers. The inauguration 
and completion by him, during a long and eventful 
life, of enterprises which not only enriched and dis- 
tinguished him, but conferred upon his fellow-men 
blessings and advantages which are incalculable, and 
the fact that every important undertaking of his life 
was crowned with the most triumphant success, fully 
sustained the estimate which I have placed upon these 
])rominent traits of his character. But, in order to 
illustrate it more fully, I will briefly call your atten- 
tion to a few of his achievements. 

In the year 1833, he settled in this county, a 
stranger, without capital or influential friends to aid 
him; but, notwithstanding these unfavorable sur- 
roundings, he commenced the manufacture of cotton- 



i64 Hox. DANIEL PRATT. 

gins on a small scale, without the aid of steam or 
water, and boldly entered the field, a competitor with 
old and established manufacturers. A few years 
found him master of the situation, his competitors 
vanquished or left far in the distance. He amassed 
a princely fortune, and established for himself a repu- 
tation as a financier and manufacturer as imperishable 
as the granite hills of 'his native State. Having ac- 
quired capital and influence, he directed his attention 
to other branches of manufacturing, and conceived 
the idea of concentrating capital and erecting a fac- 
tory for manufacturing our staple into fabrics, and 
at the same time lay the foundation for a town. This 
he accomplished by utilizing the water-power at the 
point selected for his future operations, and inviting 
others to share with him its advantages upon the 
most generous and liberal terms. This Avas, at that 
day, a bold, and was regarded by many as a hopeless, 
or at least an unpromising undertaking. Difficulties 
were encountered and overcome, w'hich would have 
discouraged and paralyzed the energies of most men ; 
but to him these difficulties were but incentives to 
renewed exertions. He surveyed the field calmly, 
estimated the chances of success or failure, and ar- 
rived at the conclusion that it was practicable. He 
willed its accomplisbment, and directed his mighty 
energies to the accomplishment of the conceptions of 
his great mind. 

It is scarcely necessary that I should inform this 
audience that his fondest hopes were realized abun- 
dantly. A town bearing his name, with a population 



EULOGIES. 165 

of three thousand inhabitants, as remarkable for their 
intelHgence and refinement as they are for indiistrv 
and thrift, attest its truth. Having accompHshed all 
that seemed attainable at present in this, the field of 
his early labors, we find him directing his attention 
to the undeveloped mineral wealth of the mountain 
regions of our State. During the late war a company 
was organized, and chartered by competent authority, 
for the purpose of manufacturing iron in that locality. 
This company procured the necessary machinery, 
erected furnaces, and commenced operations ; but an 
invading army demolished their works, and the lands 
of the company became a waste, and the stock almost 
valueless. Such was the condition of things seven 
3'ears after the last gun 'had signalized the close of the 
war of sections. Being one of the stockholders, he 
examined the wreck, the extent of the damages, the 
character and quality of the ore, and locality; and 
having arrived at the conclusion that the manufacture 
of iron on the lands owned by the company could 
be made a success — which would enrich the com- 
pany, confer incalculable benefits upon the section of 
its locality, and the State at large — he caused the 
stockholders to be convened, aroused their sluggish 
energies, and inspired them with hopes of success. 
The result was, that he was chosen president of the 
company, and at once proceeded to the task assigned 
him. The fact that he had undertaken the work ot 
reconstruction inspired confidence, and the result has 
fully established the correctness of his conclusions, 
the wisdom of his counsels, and the practicability of 



i66 Hon, DANIEL PRATT. 

his plans. Ironton to-day teems with life, and Red 
Mountain is rapidly yielding up her buried treasure. 
His success in life is mainly attributable to the 
traits of character to which I have briefly alluded; 
but were I to stop here, I should do great injustice 
to the memory and reputation of the deceased — the 
picture would be sadly incomplete — it would be as 
the- body bereft of the soul. The acquisition of wealth 
and distinction is a common and frequent occurrence 
in the history of mankind, and is not unfrequently 
found in the possession of heartless and unfeeling 
men. It is nutch more important to the world to 
know how a man uses his wealth, talent and influence 
than to be informed of the manner of their acqui- 
sition. If a man use his wealth and influence for self- 
aggrandizement alone, he is neither a philanthropi,>t 
nor a benefactor, and is neither entitled to the respect 
nor gratitude of his countrymen. If the distinguished 
deceased had been a narrow-minded, selfish man, with 
contracted views of benevolence and public spirit, 
you would not have witnessed this outpouring of his 
neighbors and countrymen, anxious to do honor to 
his memory ; Prattville would have been a wayside 
village, without churches, academies, or other evi- 
dences of intelligence, refinement, or a high order of 
civilization. But Mr. Pratt possessed other traits of 
character, to which I have not yet alluded, which gave 
direction to his vast wealth and influence, and estab- 
lished for him a reputation and distinction second to 
no man in the South. Among the most prominent 
of these traits were philanthropy, benevolence. 



EULOGIES. 167 

charity, public spirit, patriotism, and an unfailing 
devotion to the Christian religion. His philanthropy 
prompted him to invest his capital and exert his influ- 
ence so as to confer the greatest blessings upon the 
largest number of the destitute and laboring poor of 
his- section. His benevolence and charity caused him 
to aid, with his purse and influence, every institution 
and enterprise which tended to promote education, 
virtue, intelligence and religion, or to ameliorate the 
condition of suitering humanity. His public spirit 
induced him to engage in enterprises which tended 
to develop the resources of the State. His devotion 
to the Christian religion prompted him to give lib- 
erally and largely of his means 'to the spread of the 
gospel and the building up of the church of God on 
earth. His patriotism prompted him to support every 
measure of the government which, in his opinion, 
tended to promote the interest of tlie whole country, 
and to advocate, with ardor, warmth and zeal, every 
principle or political measure which tended to pro- 
mote good government, and to oppose with equal 
zeal and earnestness every principle or measure 
whidi, in his opinion, tended to degrade or oppress 
the people of any portion or section of our common 
country. 

By way of illustration, I will briefly comment upon 
each of the traits to which I have alluded, though 
not in the order in which they are mentioned. And 
first, as to his philanthropy and public spirit. What 
induced Mr. Pratt to invest so- large a portion of his 
capital, and devote so much of his valuable time in 



i68 Hox. DAXIEL PRATT. 

the manufacture of cotton yarns and fabrics? Was it 
because it promised a larger yield of profits than any 
Other investment he could have made ? This question 
must be answered in the negative by every reflecting 
and well-informed gentleman and lady in my hearing. 
The manufacture of cotton goods at that time in the 
South was an experiment, and the results of the few 
enterprises of a similar character in the Southern 
States were neither promising nor sudi as to inspire 
confidence of success, and there were many openings 
for investments which would have yielded large and 
certain profits, without even the hazard of loss. This 
being the case, the only conceivable motive which 
could have influenced him was a desire to benefit the 
laboring poor, and to develop the resources of the 
State of his adoption. Who have been the principal 
beneficiaries of 'this magnificent cotton factory, at 
once the pride and ornament of our town? Mr. 
Pratt — who invested in it, more than a third of a 
century ago, over fifty thousand dollars, and from 
which he has never realized one dollar in interest 
or profits, in good money — or the hundreds and 
thousands of feeble women, dependent and helpless 
children, and old and decrepid men, who have derived 
a comfortable support from it? Those w'ho could not 
have supported themselves by honest industry in any 
other branch of industrial pursuits — or the intelli- 
gent mechanics who have been afirorded not only the 
means of support, but have accumulated capital and 
set themselves up in profital:)le pursuits — or the doc- 
tor, lawver. merchant and honest laborer — all of 



EULOGIES. 169 

whom have been the beneficiaries of such invest- 
ments? But if there are any who are skeptical as 
to the corredtness of my conckisions touchino^ the mo- 
tives which influenced him in making this investment, 
it is only necessary that I should refer to one circum- 
stance in order to dispel every doubt on the subject. 
At the close of the terrible and cruel war between 
the States (whidi terminated so disastrously to our 
section, leaving our people depressed, destitute and 
impoverished, and especially the non-producing poor, 
who were left without l)read or money to purchase 
it), this company had on hand a large supplv of cot- 
ton, which was at that time commanding fabulous 
prices, the sale of which would have reimbursed the 
corporators for their investments, and left them this 
splendid factory, with all of its machinery and appur- 
tenances, together with improved real estate of great 
value, a net profit, to be operated at a more favorable 
period for manufacturing in the future. A portion 
of the stockholders favored a sale of said cotton, and 
a stoppage of the operations of the factory until a 
more auspicious time should arrive in the future for 
such operations. Mr. Pratt met the proposition with 
firm and unyielding opposition, and based his objec- 
tions to such a course exclusively upon grounds of 
humanity. Taking the position that it would be cruel 
and unjust to the operatives whom they had collected 
together in the days of prosperity .to serve them in 
manufacturing: that it would deprive them of the 
means of support at that terrible and trying moment, 
and leave them beggars, dependent upon the grudg- 



I70 Hon. DANIEL PRATT. 

ing charity of a hostile and conquering power. He 
advocated running or operating it, regardless of profit 
or loss. His counsels prevailed, and the business of 
manufacturing was carried on, at a loss of nearly 
twenty-five per cent., for nearly two years. 

I give this as one instance illustrative of the mo- 
tives influencing him in his investments. Such was 
the character of all the enterprises in whic'h he en- 
gaged or invested his capital. Others were benefited 
as much, and frequently more than himself, by them. 
The immense amount of money which he has collected 
together and invested in the manufacture of iron 
(heretofore alluded to), is afifording profitable em- 
ployment to hundreds, and at no distant day will give 
employment to thousands of the sons of toil ; and 
the magnificent success achieved by him in develop- 
ing the resources of Red Mountain will attract mil- 
lions of capital to our State, to be invested in the de- 
velopment of the inexhaustible mineral resources of 
her mountain regions, the effect of whic'h will be to 
gather wdthin our borders artisans, mechanics and 
laborers, enrich our people and make Alabama one 
of the wealthiest and most desirable States in the 
Union. 

His benevolent heart and charitable disposition 
prompted him to aid, with his influence and purse, 
every enterprise or undertaking which promised relief 
to suffering humanity, or whic'h tended to elevate 
and refine society ; hence, schools, academies, col- 
leges, churches and charitable institutions of every 
kind were the peculiar objects of his bounty, and 



EULOGIES. 171 

never appealed to him in vain for his counsel or 
money. And although it is true that institutions con- 
nected with 'the branch of the churdh of his choice 
drew more largely upon his liberality and Christian 
benevolence than others, it is equally true that such 
was his nobility of soul and liberality of sentiment 
tha't he often disregarded sectarian lines and gave 
liberally to institutions connected with other branches 
of the Christian church. The name of Daniel Pratt 
is enrolled upon the records of nearly every institu- 
tion of learning of any prominence, and every chari- 
table institution in our State, and was placed there 
in consequence of some generous donation made by 
him. Hundreds of the young men and women of 
this Commonwealth are indebted to the deceased for 
the advantages of education which they have enjoyed. 
Hundreds of naked and starving orphans have been 
relieved and made comfortable by his generous 
bounty, and their little hearts have often beat faster 
and their sad countenances grown brighter at the 
mention of his name. But the instances of his charity 
are more numerous, and the effect of his benevolence 
and public spirit are more striking, in the vicinity of 
his home. The widow and the orphan, the old and 
helpless, never appealed to him in vain. His house 
was the seat of hospitality, open alike to the rich and 
the poor. During the late war, when nearly all the 
able-bodied men were in the field, battling for all that 
rendered home attractive or life desirable, their wives 
flocked to his office, seeking means to buy bread and 
clothing for themselves and little ones ; and when 



172 Hon, DANIEL PRATT. 

they left it, their bright countenances and smiUng- 
faces proclaimed the results of their visits. The mag- 
nificent block of buildings, a portion of which we now 
occupy ; the splendid male and female academy ; our 
beautiful cemetery, in which sleep our precious dead ; 
and the bridges which span the beautiful and unfad- 
ing stream which propels the machinery of our fac- 
tories and workshops — bear silent but unerring tes- 
timony to his benevolence and public spirit, and will 
stand for ages to come as monuments to his name 
and memory. 

But the crowning trait or feature of the character 
of the deceased, and that which shed an undying 
lustre upon his mental and moral structure, and with- 
out which it would be shorn of much, if not most, 
of its beauty and symmetrv, was his unwavering 
piety and devotion 'to the Christian religion ; without 
this, all would have been "vanity and vexation of 
spirit." The irreligious man may amass wealth and 
attain distinction, and even enroll his name high in 
the "niche of fame"; and yet, it might be better for 
mankind that he had never lived. I might illustrate 
the correctness of this position by an array of his- 
torical names and facts, bu't one is sufficient for my 
purpose. Take Byron as a type of this class. Who 
has not felt the deep breathings of his mighty genius? 
and yet, who that bends the knee of reverence at the 
shrine of religion but entwines a wreath of cypress 
with the laurels that encircle his brow, and lament 
that his harp was unattuned to nobler themes? It 
was this trait that sustained him throug'h the vicissi- 



EULOGIES. 173 

tildes of a long and eventful life, and made his dying- 
moments as calm as an infant's dream. 

All that is mortal of this great and good man has 
passed away ; but deeds like his can never sink behind 
the hills of the past. The name and fame of Daniel 
Pratt will live and bloom for ages to come, upon the 
brightest pages of Alabama's history.. The highest 
tribute that neighbors and friends can pay the de- 
ceased is to cherish his memory and emulate his ex- 
ample. 



MERRILL E. PRATT. 

Of the many noble characters that have distin- 
guished Southerners as a hospitable people, Merrill 
E. Pratt ranked among the first. Though dead for 
nearly a decade, the memory of this lovable man is 
kept green in the hearts of our people. Mr. Pratt 
was a nephew of the immortal Daniel Pratt, and at 
the death of the great founder of our town fell heir 
to half of his estate. The other half went to Mrs. 
Ellen DeBardelaben, who afterwards sold out to Mr. 
Merrill E. Pratt. Mr. Pratt's big heart and hand 
was ever open to charity. The poor and needy of 
our community miss him. He was a friend, indeed, 
to all charitable institutions. His political friends 
used him as bondsman, and on one occasion he had a 
large sum to pay to the State. He was a man gen- 
erous to a fault, of great, good and noble impulses, 
loved by all, and when he was stricken down on that 
sad day, November 23, 1889, Prattville and the whole 
Commonwealth sustained an irreparable loss. He 
was born February 23, 1828, in Temple, N. H. 




MERRILL E. PRATT. 



5 1905 



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